SPEECHES 

LJI. 

AND    OTHER    PROCEEDINGS 


THE  PUBLIC  DINNER 


is  HONOR  of 


SSSS 


WASHINGTON, 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 


.§• 


WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS. 


<£ttt>  of 

Printed  at  the  Office  of  JONATHAN  ELLIOT,  Penniylvania  Avenue. 


7 


•V- 


as 

9 


THE  DINNER 


iw  HONOR  or  THE- 


OP 


On  the  22d  day  of  February,  1832,  being  the  Centennial 
Birth  Day  of  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  a  number  of  Gentlemen, 
from  different  parts  of  the  ['nited  States,  honored  the  occasion, 
by  a  Public  Dinner,  at  Barnard's  Hotel,  in  the  City  of  Washington. 

The  arrangements  for  the  Dinner,  were  made  under  the 
direction  of  a  Committee,  consisting  of — 

Mr  CHAMBERS,  of  Maryland, 
Mr  WAGGAMAN,  of  Louisiana, 
Mr  LETCHER,  of  Kentucky, 
Mr  BATES,  of  Massachusetts, 
Mr  PETERS,  of  Pennsylvania. 

According  to  the  arrangements  by  this  Committee,  Mr  WEBSTER,  Senator 
of  the  United  States,  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  presided;  and  Gen. 
CHARLES  FENTON  MERCER,  a  Representative  from  Virginia,  Gen.  WALTER 
JONES,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Gen.  JOSEPH  VANCE,  a  Representative 
from  Ohi< ,  were  selected  to  act  as  Vice  Presidents. 

After  the  Dinner  was  removed,  it  was  announced,  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements,  that  the  President 
of  the  Day  would  announce  the  Toasts  prepared  for  the  occasion: 

MR  WEBSTER,  the  President  of  the  Day,  then  rose,  and  addressed  the 
Company  to  the  following  effect: 

I  rise,  gentlemen,  to  propose  to  you  the  name  of  that  great  man,  in  com 
memoration  of  whose  birth,  and  in  honor  of  whose  character  and  services,  we 
have  here  assembled. 

I  am  sure  that  I  express  a  sentiment  common  to  every  one  present  when  I 
say,  that  there  is  something  more  than  ordinarily  .olernn  and  affecting  in  this 
occasion. 


930509 


4 

%V>  are  met  io  testify  our  regard  for  him,  whose  name  is  intimateiy 
Wended  with  whatever  belongs  most  essentially  to  the  prosperity,  the  liberty, 
the  free  institutions,  and  the  renown  of  our  country.  That  name  was  of 
power  to  rally  a  nation,  in  the  hour  of  thick  thronging  public  disasters  and 
calamities;  that  name  shone,  amid  the  storm  of  war,  a  beacon  light,  to  cheer 
atid  guidt  th«?  country's  fiit  nds;  it  flamed,  too,  like  a  meteor,  to  repel  !.er 
foes.  That  name,  in  the  days  of  peace,  was  a  loadstone,  attracting  to  itself 
a  whole  people's  confidence,  a  whole  people's  love,  and  the  whole  world's  re 
spect; -that  nime', . -descepdmg with  all  time,  spread  over  the  whole  earth,  and 
Uttered  in  all  the  languages  belonging  to  the  tribes  and  races  of  men,  will  for 
ever  be  pronounced  with  affectionate  gratitude  by  every  one,  in  whose  breast 
there  shall  arise  an  aspiration  for  human  rights  and  human  liberty. 

We  perform  this  grateful  duty,  gentlemen,  at  the  expiration  of  a  hundred 
years  from  his  birth,  near  the  place  so  cherished  and  beloved  by  him,  where 
his  dust  now  reposes,  and  in  the  capital  which  bears  his  own  immortal  name. 

All  experience  evinces,  that  human  sentiments  are  strongly  influenced  by  as 
sociations.  The  recurrence  of  anniversaries,  or  of  longer  periods  of  time, 
naturally  freshens  the  recollection,  and  deepens  the  impression,  of  events 
with  which  they  are  historically  connected.  Renowned  places,  also,  have  a 
power  to  awaken  feeling,  which  all  acknowledge.  No  American  can  pass  by 
the  fields  of  Bunker  Hill.  Monmouth,  or  Camden,  as  if  they  were  ordinary- 
spots  on  the  earth's  surface.  Whoever  visits  them  feels  the  sentiment  of 
love  of  country  kindling  anew,  as  if  the  spirit  that  belonged  to  the  transactions 
wMch  have  rendered  these  places  distinguished,  still  hovered  round,  with 
power  to  move  and  excite  all  who  in  future  time  may  approach  them. 

But  neither  of  these  sources  of  emotion  equals  the  power  with  which  grear 
moral  example*  affect  the  mind  When  sublime  virtues  cease  to  be  abstrac 
tions,  when  they  become  embodied  in  human  character,  and  exemplified  in 
human  conduct,  we  should  be  false  to  our  own  nature,  if  we  did  not  indulge 
in  the  spontaneous  effusions  of  our  gratitude  and  our  admiration.  A  true 
lover  of  the  virtue  of  patriotism  delights  to  contemplate  its  purest  models; 
and  that  love  of  country  may  be  well  suspected  which  affects  to  soar  so  high 
into  the  regions  of  sentiment,  as  to  be  lost  and  absorbed  in  the  abstract  feel 
ing  and  becomes  too  elevated r  or  too  refined,  to  glow  with  fervor  in  the  com 
mendation  or  the  love  of  individual  benefactors.  All  this  is  unnatural.  It  is 
as  it  one  should  be  so  enthusiastic  a  lover  of  poetry  as  to  care  nothing  for  Ho 
mer  or  Milton:  so  passionately  attached  to  eloquence  as  to  be  indifferent  to 
Tully  and  Chatham:  or  such  a  devotee  to  the  arts,  in  such  an  ecstasy  with 
the  elements  of  beauty,  proportion,  and  expression,  as  to  regard  the  master 
pieces  of  Raphael  and  Michael  Angelo  with  coldness  or  contempt.  We  may 
be  assured,  gentlemen,  that  he  who  really  loves  the  thing  itself,  loves  its  finest 
exhibitions.  A  true  friend  of  his  country  loves  her  friends  and  benefactors, 
and  thinks  it  no  degradation  to  commend  and  commemorate  them.  The  vol 
untary  outpouring  of  the  public  feeling,  made  to-day,  from  the  north  to  the 
south,  and  from  the  east  to  the  west,  proves  this  sentiment  to  be  both  just 
and  natural.  In  the  cities  and  in  the  villages,  in  the  public  temples  and  in 
the  family  circles,  among  all  ages  and  sexes,  gladdened  voices,  to  day,  be 
speak  grateful  hearts,  and  a  freshened  recollection  of  the  virtues  of  the  father 
of  his  country.  And  it  will  be  so.  in  all  time-to  come,  so  long  as  public  vir 
tue  is  itself  an  object  of  regard.  The  ingenuous  youth  of  America  will  hold 
up  to  themselves  the  bright  model  of  Washington's  example,  and  study  to  be 
what  thev  behold;  they  will  contemplate  his  character  till  all  its  virtues*spread 
out  and  display  themselves  to  their  delighted  vision;  as  the  earliest  astrono 
mers,  the  shepherds  on  the  plains  of  Babvlun,  gazed  at  the  stars  till  they  saw 
them  form  iivo  clusters  and  constellations,  overpowering  at  length  the  eyes 
of  the  beholder?  vith  the  united  blaze  of  a  thousand  lights. 


3 

Gentlemen,  we  are  at  the  point  of  a  century  from  the  birth  of  Washington; 
and  what  a  century  it  has  been!  During  its  course,  the  human  mind  has 
seemed  to  proceed  with  a  sort  of  geometric  velocity,  accomplishing  more  thaa 
had  been  done  in  fives  or  tens  of  centuries  preceding.  Washington  stands*  at 
the  commencement  of  a  new  era,  as  well  as  at  the  head  of  the  new  world.  A 
century  from  the  birth  of  Washington  has  changed  the  world.  The  country 
of  Washington  has  been  the  theatre  on  which  a  great  part  of  that  change  has 
been  wrought;  and  Washington  himself  a  principal  agent  by  which  it  has  been 
accomplished.  His  age  and  his  country  are  equally  full  of  wonders;  and  of 
both  he  is  the  chief. 

If  thr  prediction  of  the  poet,  uttered  a  few  years  before  his  birth,  be  true; 
if  indeed  it  be  designed  by  Providence  that  the  grandest  exhibition  of  human 
character  and  human  affairs  shall  be  made  on  this  theatre  of  the  western 
world;  if  it  be  true  that — 

"The  four  first  acts  already  past, 

"  A  fifth  shall  close  the  drama  with  the  day; 

"  Time's  nohlest  offspring  is  the  last" — 

how  could  this  imposing,  swelling,  final  scene,  be  appropriately  op?ned,  how 
could  its  intense  interest  be  adequately  sustained,  but  by  the  introduction  of 
ju*r  such  a  character  as  our  Washington? 

Washington  had  attained  his  manhood,  when  that  spark  of  liberty  was 
struck -out  in  his  own  country,  which  has  since  kindled  into  aflame,  and  shot 
ltd  beams  over  the  earth.  In  the  flow  of  a  century  from  his  birth,  the  world 
h.is  changed  in  science,  in  arts,  in  the  extent  of  commerce,  in  the  improve 
ment  of  navigation,  and  in  all  that  relates  to  the  civilization  of  man.  But  it 
is  the  spirit  of  human  freedom,  the  new  elevation  of  individual  man,  in  his 
moral,  social,  and  political  character,  leading  the  whole  long  train  of  other 
improvements,  which  has  most  remarkably  distinguished  the  era.  Society, 
in  this  century,  has  not  made  its  progress,  like  Chinese  skill,  by  a  greater 
acuteness  of  ingenuity  in  trifles;  it  has  not  merely  lashed  itself  to  an  increas 
ed  speed  round  the  old  circles  of  thought  and  action;  but  it  has  assumed  a 
new  character;  it  has  raised  itself  from  beneath  governments  to  a  participation 
in  governments;  it  has  mixed  moral  arid  political  objects  with  the  daily  pur 
suits  of  individual  men;  and,  with  a  freedom  and  strength  before  altogether 
unknown,  it  has  applied  to  these  objects  the  whole  power  of  the  human  un 
derstanding.  It  has  been  the  era,  in  short,  when  the  social  principle  has 
triumphed  over  the  feudal  principle;  when  society  has  maintained  its  rights 
against  military  power,  and  established,  on  foundations  never  hereafter  to  be 
shaken,  its  competency  to  govern  itself. 

It  was  the  extraordinary  fortune  of  Washington,  that,  having  been  intrusted 
in  revolutionary  times,  with  the  supreme  military  command, and  having  fulfilled 
that  trust  with  equal  renown  for  wisdom  and  for  valor,  he  should  be  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  first  Government  in  which  an  attempt  was  to  be  made,  on  a 
large  scale,  to  rear  the  fabric  of  social  order  on  the  basis  of  a  written  consti 
tution,  and  of  a  pure  representative  principle.  A  Government  was  to  be  es 
tablished,  without  a  throne,  without  an  aristocracy,  without  castes,  orders,  or 
privileges;  and  this  Government,  instead  of  being  a  democracy,  existing  and 
acting  "within  the  walls  of  a  single  city,  was  to  be  extended  over  a  vast  coun 
try,  of  different  climates,  interests,  and  habits,  and  of  various  sects  and  sen 
timents  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  experiment  certainly  was  entirelj 
new.  A  popular  Government,  of  this  extent,  it  was  evident,  could  be  fram 
ed  only  by  carrying  into  full  effect  the  principle  of  representation,  or  of  dele 
gated  power;  and  the  world  was  to  see  whether  society  could,  by  the  strength 
of  this  principle,  maintain  its  own  peace  and  good  government,  carry  for- 
its  own  grea*  inter^ts,  and  conduct  itself  to  political  renown  and  glor^ 


6 

By  the  benignity  of  Providence,  this  experiment,  so  full  of  interest  to  us  and  to 
our  posterity  forever,  so  full  of  interest  to  the  world,  in  its  present  generation, 
and  in  all  its  generations  to  come,  was  suffered  to  commence  under  the  guid 
ance  of  Washington  Destined  for  this  high  career,  he  was  fitted  for  it  by 
wisdom,  by  virtue,  by  patriotism,  by  discretion,  by  what  ver  can  inspire  con 
fidence  in  man  toward  man.  In  entering  on  the  untried  scenes,  early  disap 
pointment,  and  the  premature  extinction  of  all  hope  of  success,  would  have 
been  certain,  had  it  not  been  that  there  did  exist  throughout  the  country,  in  a 
most  extraordinary  degree,  an  unwavering  trust  in  Him  whose  hand  held  the 
helm  of  affairs. 

I  remarked,  gentlemen,  that  the  whole  world  was  and  is  interested  in  the 
result  of  this  experiment.  And  is  it  not  so?  Do  we  deceive  ourselves,  or  is 
it  true,  that  at  this  moment  the  career  which  this  Government  is  running  is 
among  the  most  attractive  objects  to  the  civilized  world?  Do  we  deceive  our 
selves,  or  is  it  true,  that  at  this  moment  that  love  of  liberty,  and  that  under 
standing  of  its  true  principles,  which  are  flying  over  the  whole  earth,  AS  ou 
the  wings  of  all  the  winds,  are  really  and  truly  of  American  origin? 

At  the  period  of  the  birth  of  Washington,  there  existed  in  Europe  no  po 
litical  liberty,  in  large  communities,  except  the  Provinces  of  Holland,  and 
except  that  England  herself  had  set  a  great  example,  so  far  as  it  went,  by 
her  glorious  revolution  of  1688.  Every  where  else,  despotic  power  was  pre 
dominant,  and  the  feudal  or  military  principle  held  the  mass  of  mankind  in 
hopeless  bondage.  One  half  of  Europe  was  crushed  beneath  the  Bourbon 
sceptre,  and  no  conception  of  political  liberty,  no  hope  even  of  religious  tole 
ration,  existed  among  that  nation  which  was  America's  first  ally.  The  King 
was  the  State,  the  King  was  the  country,  the  King  was  all.  There  was  one 
King,  with  power  not  derived  from  his  People,  and  too  high  to  be  ques 
tioned;  and  the  rest  were  all  subjects,  with  no  political  right  but  obedience- 
All  above  was  intangible  power,  all  below  quiet  subjection.  A  recent  occur* 
rence  in  the  French  Chambers  shows  us  how  human  sentiments  on  these  sub 
jects  have  changed.  A  Minister  had  spoken  of  the  "King's  subjects."  "There 
are  no  subjects,"  exclaimed  hundreds  of  voices  at  once,  *'m  a  country  where 
the  People  make  the  King!" 

Gentlemen,  the  spirit  of  human  liberty  and  of  free  Government,  nurtured 
and  grown  into  strength  and  beauty  in  America,  has  stretched  its  course  into 
the  midst  of  the  nations.  Like  an  emanation  from  Heaven,  it  has  gone  forth, 
and  it  will  not  return  void.  It  must  change,  it  is  fast  changing,  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Our  great,  our  high  duty,  is  to  show,  in  our  own  example,  that 
this  spirit  is  a  spirit  of  health  as  well  as  a  spirit  of  power;  that  its  be 
nignity  is  as  great  as  its  strength ;  that  its  efficiency  to  secure  indivi 
dual  rights,  social  relations,  and  moral  order,  is  equal  to  the  irresisti 
ble  force,  with  which  it  prostrates  principalities  and  powers.  The  world, 
at  this  moment,  is  regarding  us  with  a  willing,  but  something  of  a  fearful  admi 
ration.  Its  deep  and  awful  anxiety  is  to  learn  whether  free  States  may  be 
stable  as  well  as  free;  whether  popular  power  may  be  trusted,  as  well  as  feared; 
in  short,  whether  wise,  regular,  and  virtuous  self-government,  is  a  vision,  for 
the  contemplation  of  theorists,  or  a  truth,  established,  illustrated,  and  brought 
into  practice,  in  the  country  of  Washington. 

Gentlemen,  for  the  earth  which  we.  inhabit,  and  the  whole  circle  of  the  sun, 
for  all  the  unborn  races  of  mankind,  we  seem  to  hold  in  our  hands,  for  their 
weal  or  woe,  the  fate  of  this  experiment.  If  we  fail,  who  shall  venture  the 
repetition?  If  ourexarnple  shall  prove  to  be  one,  not  of  encouragement,  but 
of  terror — not  fit  to  be  imitated,  but  fit  only  to  be  shunned,  where  else  shall 
the  world  look  for  free  models?  If  this  great  Western  Sun  be  struck  out  of 
the  firmament,  at  what  other  fountain  shall  the  Lamp  of  Liberty  hereafter  be 
lighted?  What  other  orb  shall  emit  a  ray  to  glimmer,  even,  on  the  darkness 
of  the  world? 


Gentlemen,  there  is  no  danger  of  our  overrating,  or  overstating,  the  import 
ant  part  which  we  are  now  acting  in  human  affairs.  It  should  not  flatter  our 
personal  self-respect,  but  it  should  reanimate  our  patriotic  virtues,  and  in 
spire  us  with  a  deeper  and  more  solemn  sense,  both  of  our  privileges  and 
of  our  duties.  We  cannot  wish  better  for  our  country,  nor  for  the  world,  than 
that  the  same  spirit  which  influenced  Washington,  may  influence  all  who  suc 
ceed  him;  and  that  that  same  blessing  from  above,  which  attended  his  efforts, 
may  also  attend  theirs. 

The  principles  of  Washington's  Administration  are  not  left  doubtful. 
They  are  to  be  found  in  the  constitution  itself,  in  the  great  measures  recom 
mended  and  approved  by  him,  in  his  speeches  to  Congress,  and  in  that  most 
interesting  paper,  his  Farewell  Address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
The  success  of  the  Government  under  his  Administration  is  the  highest  proof 
of  the  soundness  of  these  principles.  And,  after  an  experience  of  thirty-five 
years,  what  is  there,  which  an  enemy  could  condemn — what  is  there,  which 
either  his  friends,  or  the  friends  of  the  country,  could  wish  to  have  been  other 
wise?  I  speak,  of  course,  of  great  measures  and  leading  principles. 

In  the  first  place,  all  his  measures  were  right  in  intent.  He  stated  the 
whole  basis  of  his  own  great  character,  when  he  told  the  country,  in  the  home 
ly  phrase  of  the  proverb,  that  honesty  is  the  best  policy.  One  of  the  most 
striking  things  ever  said  of  him,  is,  "that  he  changed  mankind's  ileas  of  politi 
cal  greatness  "  To  commanding  talent,  and  to  success,  the  common  ele 
ments  of  such  greatness,  he  added  a  disregard  of  self,  a  spotlessness  of  mo 
tive,  a  steady  submission  to  every  public  and  private  duty,  which  threw  far  in 
to  the  shade  the  whole  crowd  of  vulgar  great.  The  object  of  his  regard  was 
the  whole  country.  No  part  of  it  was  enough  to  fill  his  enlarged  patriotism. 
His  love  of  glory,  so  far  as  that  may  be  supposed  to  have  influenced  him  at 
all,  spurned  every  thing  short  of  general  approbation.  It  would  have  been 
nothing  to  him,  that  his  partizans  or  his  favorites  outnumbered,  or  outvoted, 
or  out  manage  ',  or  outclamored,  those  of  other  leaders.  He  had  no  favorites — 
he  rejected  all  partizanship;  and,  acting  honestly  for  the  universal  good,  he 
deserved,  what  he  has  so  richly  enjoyed,  the  universal  love. 

His  principle  it  was  to  act  right,  and  to  trust  the  People  for  support;  his 
principle  it  was  not,  to  follow  the  lead  of  sinister  and  selfish  ends,  and  1 1  re 
ly  on  the  little  arts  of  party  delusion  to  obtain  public  sanction  for  such  a 
course.  Born  for  his  country,  and  for  the  world,  he  did  not  give  up  to  party 
what  was  meant  for  mankind.  The  consequence  is,  that  his  fame  is  as  dura 
ble  as  his  principles,  as  lasting  as  truth  and  virtue  themselves.  While  the 
hundreds  whom  party  excitement,  and  temporary  circumstances,  and  casual 
combinations,  have  raised  into  transient  notoriety,  sink  again,  like  thin  bub 
bles,  bursting  and  dissolving  into  the  great  ocean,  Washington's  fame  is  like 
the  rock,  which  bounds  that  ocean,  and  at  whose  feet  its  billows  are  destined 
to  break  harmlessly  forever. 

The  maxims  upon  which  Washington  conducted  our  foreign  relations  were 
few  and  simple.  The  first,  was  an  entire  and  indisputable  impartiality  towards 
foreign  States.  He  adhered  to  this  rule  of  public  conduct,  against  very 
strong  inducements  to  der-art  from  it,  and  when  the  popularity  of  the  mo 
ment  seemed  to  favor  such  a  departure.  In  the  next  place,  he  maintained  true 
dignity,  and  unsullied  honor,  in  all  communications  with  foreign  States.  It  was 
among  the  high  duties  devolved  upon  him,  to  introduce  our  new  Government 
into  the  circle  of  civilized  States,  arid  powerful  nations.  Not  arrogant  or 
assuming,  with  no  unbecoming  or  supercilious  bearing,  he  yet  exacted  for  it, 
from  all  others,  entire  and  punctilious  respect.  He  demanded,  and  he  ob 
tained  at  once,  a  standing  of  perfect  equality  for  his  country,  in  the  society 
of  nations;  nor  was  there  a  prince  or  potentate  of  his  day,  whose  personal 


8 

character  carried  with  it,  into  the  intercourse  with  other  States,  a  greater  de 
gree  of  respect  and  veneration. 

He  regarded  other  nations  only,  as  they  stood  in  political  relations  to  us. 
With  their  internal  affairs,  their  political  parties  and  dissensions,  he  scrupu 
lously  abstained,  from  all  interference;  and,  on  the  other  hand,he  spiritedly  re 
pelled  all  such  interference  by  others  with  us  or  our  concerns.  His  sternest 
rebuke — the  most  indignant  measure  of  his  whole  Administration — was  aitn- 
ed  against  such  an  attempted  interference.  He  felt  it,  as  an  attempt  to  wound 
the  national  honor,  and  resented  it  accordingly. 

The  reiterated  admonitions,  in  his  Farewell  Address,  show  his  deep  fears, 
that  foreign  influence  would  insinuate  itself  into  our  councils,  through  the 
cha  -nels  of  domestic  dissensions,  and  obtain  a  sympathy  with  our  own  tempo 
rary  parties.  Against  all  such  dangers,  he  most  earnestly  entreats  the  coun 
try  t<»  guard  itself.  He  appeals  to  its  patriotism,  to  its  self  respect,  to  its 
own  honor,  to  every  consideration  connected  with  its  welfare  and  happim  ss, 
to  resist,  at  the  ver\  beginning,  all  tendencies  toward  such  connection  of  fo 
reign  interests,  with  our  own  affairs.  With  a  tone  of  earnestness,  nowhere 
else  found,  even  in  his  last  affectionate  farewell  advice  to  his  countrymen,  he 
says — *fc  Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence,  (1  conjure  you  to  be- 
"lieve  me,  fellow-citizens,)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to  be  constant^ 
"/y  awake;  since  history  and  experience  prove,  that  foreign  influence  is  one 
"of  the  most  baneful  foes  of  republican  government." 

Lastly,  on  the  subject  of  foreign  relations,  Washington  never  forgot  that 
we  had  interests  peculiar  to  ourselves.  The  primary  political  concerns  of 
Europe,  he  saw,  did  not  affect  us.  We  had  nothing  to  do  with  her  balance 
of  power,  her  family  compacts,  or  her  successions  to  thrones.  We  were  pla 
ced  in  a  condition  favorable  to  neutrality,  during  European  wars,  and  to  the 
enjoyment  of  all  the  great  advantages  of  that  relation.  "Why,  then,"  he 
asks  us,  *fi  why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation.  Why  quit  our 
"own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground?  Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny 
"  with  that  of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the 
"  toils  of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice?" 

Indeed,  gentlemen,  Washington's  Farewell  Address  is  full  of  truths,  im 
portant  at  all  times,  and  particularly  deserving  consideration  at  the  present. 
With  a  sagacity  which  brought  the  future  before  him,  and  made  it  like  the 
present,  nesaw  and  pointed  out  the  dangers  that  even  at  this  moment  most 
imminently  threaten  us.  I  hardly  know  how  a  greater  service  of  that  kind 
could  now  be  done  to  the  community  than  by  a  renewed  and  wide  diffusion  of 
tha-  admirable  paper,  and  an  earnest  invitation  to  every  man  in  the  country  to 
r-peruse  and  consider  it.*  Its  political  maxims  are  invaluable;  its  exhorta 
tion  to  love  of  country  and  to  brotherly  affection  among  citizens,  touching  ; 
and  the  solemnity  with  which  it  urges  the  observance  of  moral  duties,  and 
impresses  the  power  of  religious^obligation,  gives  to  it  the  highest  character 
of  truly  disinterested,  sincere,  parental  advice. 

The  domestic  policy  of  Washington  found  its  pole  star  in  the  avowed  ob 
jects  of  the  constitution  itself  He  sought  so  to  administer  that  constitution, 
as  to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  ensure  domestic  tranquil 
lity,  provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  arid  se 
cure  the  blessings  of  liberty.  These  were  objects,  interesting,  in  the  highest 
degree,  to  the  whole  country,  and  his  policy  embraced  the  whole  countrv. 
^  Among  his  earliest  and  most  important  duties,  was  <he  organization  of  the 
Government  itself,  the  choice  of  his  confidential  advisers,  and  the  various 
appointments  to  office.  This  duty,  so  important  and  delicate,  when  a  whole 
Government  was  to  be  organized,*  and  all  its  offices  for  the  firs;  time  filled, 
was  yet  not  difficult  to  him;  for  he  had  no  sinister  ends  to  accomplish.  rro 
?  See  the  end  of  these  proceedings  for  a  copy  of  the  FareweTl  Address? 


Clamorous  partizans  to  gratify,  no  pledges  to  redeem,  no  object  to  be  regard* 
ed,  bi<t  Kim  pi  v  *he  public  good  It  was  a  plain,  straight  forward  niat.ier — a 
inert-  honest  choice  of  good  men,  for  the  public  service. 

His  own  singleness  of  purpose,  his  disinterested  patriotism,  were  evinced 
by  the  selection  of  his  first  Cabinet,  and  by  the  manner  in  which  he  filled  the 
Courts  of  Justice,  and  other  places  ot  high  trust.  He  sought  for  men  fu  for 
offices  ;  not  for  offices  which  might  suit  men.  Above  personal  considerations, 
above  local  considerations,  above  party  considerations,  he  felt  that  he  could 
only  discharge  the  sacred  trust  which  the  country  had  placed  in  his  hands,  by 
a  diligent  inquiry  after  real  merit,  and  a  conscientious  preference  of  virtue 
and  talent.  The  whole  country  was  the  field  of  his  selection.  He  explored 
that  whole  field,  looking  only  for  whatever  it  contained  most  worthy  and  dis 
tinguished.  He  was,  indeed,  most  successful,  and  he  deserved  success,  for 
the  purity  of  his  motives,  the  liberality  of  his  sentiments,  and  his  enlarged 
and  manly  policy. 

Washington's  Administration  established  the  national  credit,  made  provi 
sion  for  the  public  debt,  and  for  that  patriotic  army  whose  interests  and  wel 
fare  were  always  so  dear  to  him  ;  and  by  laws  wisely  framed,  and  of  admira 
ble  effect,  raised  the  commerce  and  navigation  of  the  country,  almost  at  once, 
from  depression  and  ruin,  to  a  state  of  prosperity.  Nor  were  his  eyes  open 
to  these  interests  alone.  He  viewed  with  equal  concern  its  agriculture  and 
manufactures,  and  so  far  as  they  came  within  the  regular  exercise  ot  the  pow 
ers  of  this  Government,  they  experienced  regard  and  favor. 

It  should  not  be  omitted,  gentlemen,  even  in  this  slight  reference  to  the 
general  measures  and  general  principles  of  the  first  President,  that  he  saw 
and  felt  the  full  value  and  importance  of  the  Judicial  Department  of  the  Go 
vernment.  An  upright  and  able  administration  of  the  laws,  he  held  to  be  alike 
indispensible  to  private  happiness  and  public  liberty.  The  temple  of  Justice, 
in  his  judgment,  was  a  sacred  place,  and  he  would  profane  and  pollute  it,  who 
should  assign  any  to  minister  in  it,  not  spotless  in  character,  not  incorruptible 
in  integrity,  not  competent  by  talent  and  learning,  not  fit  objects  of  unhesi 
tating  trust. 

Among  other  admonitions,  Washington  has  left  us,  in  his  last  communica 
tion  to  his  country,  an  exhortation  against  the  excesses  of  party-spirit.  A 
fire  not  to  be  quenched,  he  yet  conjures  us  not  to  fan  and  feed  the  flame  Un 
doubtedly,  gentlemen,  it  is  the  greatest  danger  of  our  system,  and  of  our 
time  Undoubtedly,  if  that  system  should  be  overthrown,  it  will  be  the  work 
of  excessive  party-spirit,  acting  on  the  Government,  which  is  dangerous 
enough,  or  acting  in  the  Government,  which  is  a  thousand  times  more  dan 
gerous;  for  Government  then  becomes  nothing  but  organized  party,  and  in 
the  strange  vicissitudes  of  human  affairs,  it  may  come  at  last,  perhaps,  to  ex 
hibit  the  singular  paradox  of  Go  eminent  itself  beingin  opposition  to  its  own 
powers,  at  war  with  the  very  elements  of  its  own  existence.  Such  cases  are 
hopeless.  As  men  may  be  protected  against  murder,  but  cannot  be  guarded 
against  suicide,  so  Government  may  be  shielded  from  the  assaults  of  external" 
foes,  but  nothing  can  save  it,  when  it  chooses  to  lay  violent  hands  on  itself. 

Finally,  gentlemen,  there  was  in  the  breast  of  Washington  one  sentiment 
so  deeply  felt,  so  constantly  uppermost,  that  no  proper  occasion  escaped 
without  its  utterance.  From  the  letter  which  he  signed,  in  behalf  of  the  Con 
vention,  when  the  Constitution  was  sent  out  to  the  people,  to  the  moment 
when  he  put  his  hand  to  that  last  paper,  in  which  he  addressed  his  country 
men,  the  Union — the  Union,  was  the  great  object  of  his  thoughts.  In  that 
first  letter,  he  tells  them,  that  to  him,  and  his  brethern  of  the  Convention, 
Union  appears  to  be  the  greatest  interest  of  every  true  American  ;  and  in  that 
paper  he  cxmjares  them  to  regard  that  unitv  of  Government*  which  corT* 


10 

atitutes  them  one  People,  as  the  very  palladium  of  their  prosperity  and  safety* 
and  the  security  of  liberty  itself.  He  regarded  the  Union  of  these  States, 
not  so  much  one  of  our  blessings,  as  the  great  treasure-house  which  contained 
them  all.  Here,  in  his  judgment,  was  the  great  magazine  of  all  our  means 
of  prosperity  ;  here,  as  he  thought,  and  as  every  American  still  thinks  are 
deposited  all  our  animating  prospects,  all  our  solid  hopes  for  future  greatness. 
He  has  taught  us  to  maintain  this  Union,  not  by  seeking  to  enlarge  the  pow 
ers  of  the  Government,  on  the  one  hand,  nor  by  surrendering  them  on  the 
other  ;  but  by  an  administration  of  them,  at  once  firm  and  moderate,  adopt 
ed  for  objects  truly  national,  and  carried  on  in  a  spirit  of  justice  and 
equity. 

The  extreme  solicitude  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union,  at  all  times  ma 
nifested  by  him,  shows,  not  only  the  opinion  he  entertained  of  its  usefulness^ 
but  his  clear  perception  of  those  causes  which  were  likely  to  spring  up  to  en 
danger  it,  and  which,  if  once  they  should  overthrow  the  present  system, 
would  leave  little  hope  of  any  future  beneficial  re  union.  Of  all  the  presump 
tions  indulged  by  presumptuous  man,  that  is  one  of  the  rashest,  which  looks 
for  repeated  and  favorable  opportunities  for  the  deliberate  establishment  of 
a  United  Government  over  distinct  and  widely  extended  communities.  Such 
a  thing  has  happened  once,  in  human  affairs,  and  but  once  :  the  event  stands 
out,  as  a  prominent  exception  to  all  ordinary  history  ;  and  unless  we  suppose 
ourselves  running  into  an  age  of  miracles,  we  may  not  expect  its  repetition. 

Washington,  therefore,  could  regard,  and  did  regard,  nothing  as  of  para 
mount  political  interest,  but  the  integrity  of  the  union  itself.  With  a  united 
government,  well  administered,  he  sr-aw  we  had  nothing  to  fear;  and  without 
it,  nothing  to  hope.  The  sentiment  is  just,  and  its  momentous  truth  should 
solemnly  impress  the  whole  country.  It  we  might  regard  our  country  as  per 
sonated  in  the  spirit  of  Washington,  if  we  might  consider  him  as  representing 
her,  in  her  past  renown,  her  present  prosperity,  and  her  future  career,  and  as 
in  that  character  demanding  of  us  all,  to  account  for  our  conduct,  as  political 
men,  or  as  private  citizens,  how  should  he  answer  him,  who  has  ventured  to 
talk  of  disunion  and  dismemberment?  Or,  how  should  he  answer  him,  who 
dwells  perpetually  on  local  interests,  and  fans  every  kindling  flame  of  local 
prejudice?  How  should  he  answer  him,  who  would  array  state  against  state, 
interest  against  interest,  and  party  against  party,  carelessof  the  continuance 
of  that  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  us  one  people? 

Gentlemen,  the  political  prosperity  which  this  country  has  attained,  and 
\vhich  it  now  enjoys,  it  has  acquired  mainly  through  the  instrumentality  of 
the  present  government.  While  this  agent  continues,  the  capacity  of  attain 
ing  to  still  higher  degrees  of  prosperity  exists  also.  We  have,  while  this 
lasts,  a  political  life,  capable  of  beneficial  exertion,  with  power  to  resist  or 
overcome  misfortunes,  to  sustain  us  against  the  ordinary  accidents  of  human 
affairs,  and  to  promote,  by  active  efforts,  every  public  interest.  But  dismem 
berment  strikes  at  the  very  being  which  preserves  these  faculties.  It  would 
lay  its  rude  and  ruthless  hand  on  this  great  agent  itself.  It  would  sweep 
away,  not  only  what  we  possess,  but  all  power  of  regaining  lost,  or  acquiring 
new,  possessions.  It  would  leave  the  country,  not  only  bereft  of  its  prosperity 
and  happiness,  but  without  limbs,  or  organs,  or  faculties,  by  which  to  exert 
itself,  hereafter,  in  the  pursuit  of  that  prosperity  and  happiness. 

Other  misfortunes  may  be  borne,  or  their  effects  overcome.  If  disastrous 
yar  should  sweep  our  commerce  from  the  ocean,  another  generation  may  renew 
it;  if  it  exhaust  our  treasury,  future  industry  may  replenish  it;  if  it  desolate  and 
lay  waste  our  fields,  still,  under  a  new  cultivation,  they  will  grow  green 
again,  and  ripen  to  future  harvests.  It  were  but  a  trifle,  even  if  the  walls  of 
yonder  Capitol  were  to  crumble,  if  its  lofty  pillars  should  fall,  and  its  gor- 


11 

geous  decorations  be  all  covered  by  the  dust  of  the  valley.  All  these  might 
be  rebuilt.  But  who  shall  reconstruct  the  fabric  of  demolished  government? 
Who  shall  rear  again  the  well-proportioned  columns  of  constitutional  liberty? 
Who  shall  frame  together  the  skilful  architecture  which  unites  national  sove 
reignty  with  state  rights^  individual  security,  and  public  prosperity?  No, 
gentlemen,  if  these  columns  fall,  they  will  be  raised  not  again.  Like  the  Col- 
ioseum  and  the  Parthenon,  they  will  be  destined  to  a  mournful — -a  melancholy 
immortality.  Bitterer  tears,  however,  will  flow  over  them,  than  were  ever 
shed  over  the  monuments  of  Roman  or  Grecian  art;  for  they  will  be  the  rem 
nants  of  a  more  glorious  edifice,  than  Greece  or  Rome  ever  saw — the  edifice 
of  constitutional  American  liberty. 

But,  gentlemen,  let  us  hope  for  better  things.  Let  us  trust  in  that  gracious 
Being  who  has  hitherto  held  our  country,  as  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand  Let 
Us  trust  to  the  virtue  and  the  intelligence  of  the  people,  and  to  the  efficacy  of 
religious  obligation.  Let  us  trust  to  the  influence  of  Washington's  example. 
Let  us  hope  that  that  fear  of  heaven,  which  expels  all  other  fear,  and  that  re 
gard  to  duty,  which  transcends  all  other  regard,  may  influence  public  men 
and  private  citizens,  and  lead  our  country  still  onward  in  her  happy  career. 
Full  of  these  gratifying  anticipations  and  hopes,  let  us  look  forward  to  the  end 
of  that  century  which  is  now  COM  menced.  A  hundred  years  hence,  other 
disciples  of  Washington  will  celebrate  his  birth,  with  no  less  of  sincere  admi 
ration  than  we  now  commemorate  it.  When  they  shall  meet,  as  we  now 
meet,  to  do  themselves  and  him  that  honor,  so  surely  as  they  shall  see  the 
blue  summits  of  his  native  mountains  rise  in  the  horizon,  so  surely  as  they 
shall  behold  the  river  on  whose  banks  he  lived,  and  on  whose  banks  he  rests, 
still  flowing  to  the  sea — so  surely  may  they  see,  as  we  now  see, the  flag  of  the 
Union  floating  on  the  top  of  the  Capitol;  and  then,  as  now,  may  the  sun  in  his 
course  visit  no  land  more  free,  more  happy,  more  lovely,  than  this  our  own 
country ! 

Gentlemen,  I  propose— 

44  &J)*  jwemorg  of  ®eorur  Sffilasijfnfltom" 

After  this  address  and  toast,  which  were  received  with  the  warmest  testi 
monials  of  approbation  by  the  company,  the  President  announced  in  succession 
the  following  toasts: 

2.  The  memory  of  James  Otis  and  Patrick  Henry,  "whofirst  moved  the  ball  of  the  Revolution." 

3.  Samuel  Adams  and  John  Hancock;  they  received  the  first  honors  of  the  Revolution — pros 
cription,  iu  the  cause  of  their  country . 

4.  The  memory  of  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Adams,  and  Thomas  Jefferson;  no  honors  can 
equal  their  merits,  no  eulogy  enhance  their  fame. 

5.  The  statesmen  and  heroes  of  the  Revolution — the  companions  of  Washington,  in  war  and  peace 
C.  The  old  Continental  Congress,  who  conducted  the  country,  through  trial  and  disaster,  in 

war  and  in  peace,  to  Independence  and  Union. 

7.  The  Survivors  of  the  Army  of  the  Revolution;  "  An  army  which  did  and  suflercd  more 
than  any  other  army  ever  did,  in  defence  of  the  rights  and  liberties  of  human  nature." 

( Washington's  letter  to  Congress,  IS/A  March,  1783.) 

8.  The  patriot  hero,  •*  who  conducted  the  great  military  contest  of  the  revolution  with  wisdom 
and  fortitude, invariably  regarding  the  rightsof  the  civil  power,  through  all  disasters  and  changes." 
(Reply  of  the  President  of  Congress  to  Gen.  Washington's  address,  on  resigning  liis  commission.) 

9.  France,  the  first  and  only  ally  of  the  United  States;  she  generously  aided  our  fathers  in  their 
struggles  for  liberty — she  has  our  sympathy  in  her  own. 

The  President  of  the  day  then  announced  to  the  company  that  an  invitation 
2 


to  this  dinner  had  been  extended  by  the  committee  of  arrangements  to  the 
Pre.sidentof  the  United  States,  to  which  the  following:  reply  ha»!  been  received: 

WASHINGTON,  21st  Feb.  1832. 

Gentlemen:  I  regret  to  be  compelled  to  decline  the  invitation  with  which  you  have  favored  me, 
to  partake  of  the  dinner  proposed  to  be  given  by  a  number  of  gentlemen,  to-morrow,  at  Barnard's 
Hotel,  in  honor  "of  the  principles  and  memory  of  General  Washington." 

Very  respectfully,  &c.  your  ob't  servant,                                ANDREW  JACKSON. 
Messrs  E.  Chambers,  George  A.  Waggaman,  Rrtb.  P.  Letcher, Peters,  I.  C.  Bates. 

The  chair  then  announced  the  following  toast  by  the  committee  of  arrange 
ments. 

10.  "  THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  " 

This  toast  having  been  drank,  the  following  additional  toasts  were  drank: 

11.  General  Lafayette,  the  consistent  friend  of  liberty  in  both  hemispheres:    unbroken  by  dis^- 
aster,  uncorrupted  by  success:  the  worthy  scholar  of  the  best  of  schools — the  school  of  Washington 

12.  JAMES  MADISON,  the  father  of  the  Constitution;  and  the  memory  of  his  illustrious  associates 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  John  Jay. 

13.  The  Memory  of  JAMES  MONROE. 

14.  Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  the  only  surviving  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  chair  then  stated  that  an  invitation  to  this  festival  had  been  extended 
to  the  Chief  Justice  and  the  Associate  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  State*,  from  whom  the  following  reply  had  been  received: 

Mr  Chief  Justice  MARSH  AH,  and  the  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  return  their 
respectful  compliments  to  the  honorable  MI*  Chambers  and  the  other  members  of  the  Committee 
of  Arrangements  who  superintend  the  Celebration  of  the  22d  instant,  a-.id  regret  that  circumstances 
prevent  their  accepting  the  polite  invitation  of  the  Committee,  to  dine  with  themselves,  and  with 
the  gentlemen  they  represent  at  Barnard's,  at  five  on  Wednesday. 
Feb.  21st,  1S32. 

Mr  WAUSHALL  says  for  himself,  that  no  occasion  could  be  presented,  in  which  he  would  feel 
more  interest,  or  be  more  strongly  disposed  to  participate  in  the  enjoyments  of  the  day,  were  he 
now  capable  of  tasting  them.  But  his  total  unfitncss  for  company,  his  entire  inability  to  commu 
nicate  or  receive  pleasure  must  be  his  apology  for  declining  an  invitation,  which,  under  other 
circumstances,  he  would  certainly  accept. 

The  following  toasts  were  then  drank,  with  the  strongest  marks  of  approba 
tion,  by  all  the  company: 

15.  The  Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  the  friend  and  biographer  of  Washington,  the  great 
expounder  of  the  Constitution. 

16.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United   States,  clothed  by  the  Constitution  with  the  most  high 
and  delicate  functions,  they  have  sustained  themselves  for  forty  years  in  the  full  possession  of 
public  confidence. 

The  remainder  of  the  prepared  toasts  were  then  given  as  follows: 

17.  The  Union  of  the  States:  "  The  Unity  of  the  Government,  which  constitutes  us  one  people. 
Is  the  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  our  real  independence,  the   support  of  tranquility  at  home,  of 
peace  abroad—of  safety,  of  prosperity,  and  liberty  "—(Washington's  farewell  address.) 

18.  Washington's  theory  of  the  Constitution:  "It  is  obviously  impracticable  in  the  federal  go^ 
vermuent  of  these  States  to  secure  all  rights  of  independent  sovereignty  to  each,  and  yet  provide 
for  the  interest  and  safety  of  all."—  The  letter  of  Washington,  as  President  of  the  Federal  Con 
vention,  transmitting  the  Constitution  to  Congress,  September,  1787. 

19.  "The  greatest  interest  of  eveiy  true  American;  the  Consolidation  of  our  Union,  in  which 
are  involved  our  prosperity,  felicity,  safety,  and  perhaps  our  national  existence."—  The  same  letter, 

Tht-  chair  then  announced  that  an  invitation  to  this  dinner  had  been  exten 
ded  by  »he  committee  of  arrangements,  to  the  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  from  whom  the  following  reply  had  been  received: 


13 

The  VICE  PRESIDENT  has  had  the  honor  to  receive  the  invitation  of  Mr  Chambers,  Mr  Wagga* 
man,  Mr  Leicher,  Mr  Peters,  and  Mr  Bates,  to  join  them,  with  a  number  of  other  gentlemen,  on 
Wednesday,  the  22d  inst.  at  dinner,  at  Barnard's,  and  regrets  that  it  is  not  in  his  power  to  accept 
their  invitation. 

The  chair  then  announced,  as  from  the  committee  of  arrangements,  the 
following  toast: 

"THE  VICE-PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES." 

The  chair  next  stated,  by  direction  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  that 
an  invitation  to  this  di'.ner  had  been  extended  to  JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  late 
President  of  the  UnitedStates,from  whom  the  following  reply  had  been  received: 

WASHINGTON,  21st  Feb'y,  1832. 
Messrs  Chambers,  Waggaman,  Letcher,  Bates,  Peters: 

Gentlemen:  Accept  my  grateful  acknowledgements,  and  have  the  goodness  to  present  them  to 
(he  gentlemen  associated  with  you  for  the  celebration  of  the  great  Centennial  Anniversary  by  a 
public  dinner,  for  the  honor  done  me  by  the  obliging  invitation  to  attend  on  this  festive  occasion, 
as  your  guest. 

I  regret  that  the  infirm  state  of  my  health  will  deprive  me  of  the  pleasure  which  I  should  have 
enjoyed  by  compliance  with  your  kind  proposal.  It  admonishes  me  to  avoid  the  exposure  of  the 
night  from  home.  But  my  heart  will  be  with  you,  and,  instead  of  my  personal  attendance,  I  offer 
you  the  following,  as  a  sentiment  suited  to  the  occasion: 

"  Progressive  Improvement  in  the  Condition  of  Man,  from  Washington's  Birth-day,  to  thi^: 
May  its  march  to  the  next  Centennial  Anniversary  be — FORWARD." 

Most  respectfully,  your  friend,  J.  Q.  ADAMS. 

The  president  of  the  day  then  announced,  under  the  instruction  of  the  com 
mittee  of  arrangements,  the  following  toast: 

««  JOHN  QCINCY  ADAMS,  late  President  of  the  United  States." 

According  to  the  arrangements  by  the  committee,  the  gentlemen  whose 
toasts  will  be  found  in  the  sequel,  were  successively  called  upon  by  the 
president  of  the  day,  for  sentiments  due  to  the  occasion.  And  first — 

Mr  JOHNSTON,  of  Louisiana,  was  called  upon  by  the  president  for  a 
speech,  but  apologized  for  not  being  prepared,  as  his  time  had  been  occupied 
during  the  last  two  days  in  making  the  necessary  preparations  for  this  occa 
sion.  In  place  of  a  speech,  he  offered  the  following  sentiment — 

"  VIRGINIA,  the  birth  place  of  WASHINGTON:  She  claims  to  be  the  depository  of  his  remains, 
11  The  tomb  contains  all  that  once  was  Washington,  except  his  glory:  that  is  the  rich  inheritance 
of  his  country." 

Mr  JAMES  BARBOUR,  of  Va.  being  called  upon  by  the  President  for  a 
toast,  rose  and  addressed  the  Company  nearly  as  follows: 

I  yield  ready  obedience  to  the  call  which  has  been  made  upon  me,  on  the 
uniform  principle  of  my  every  act — respect  for  the  constituted  authorities — 
of  which  I  cannot  give  a  higher  evidence,  than  by  consenting  to  follow  the 
gentlemen  that  have  preceded  me,  unused  as  I  now  am  to  public  speaking. 

I  view  it  as  an  evidence  of  rny  greatly  good  fortune,  that  it  has  been  per 
mitted  to  me  to  unite  with  this  company,  for  whom  I  entertain  so  much  re 
gard,  in  doing  honor  to  the  memory  of  Washington  A  hundred  years  have 
expired  since  his  birth;  and  many  have  interposed  since  his  death;  and  yet, 
thirteen  millions  of  People,  animated  with  an  increased  zeal,  have  gone  forth 
to-day,  to  pour  out  their  grateful  hearts  as  an  offering  to  his  surpassing  worth. 
And  thus  Time,  which  is  consuming  the  fame  of  others,  is  adding  to  that  of 
Washington. 


\, 


14 


In  exploring  the  cause  of  suck  abiding  and  universal  veneration,  philan 
thropy  finds  ample  occasion  for  consolation  and  joy.  She  feels,  that  it  arises 
not  from  a  servile  sycophancy,  nor  from  the  sordid  abasement  which  humbles 
itself  before  present  power,  in  hopes  of  reward;  but,  that  it  is  the  offering  of 
pure  and  disinterested  gratitude  to  the  greatest  benefactor  of  mankind.  Rea 
son  and  philosophy  lend  their  sanction  to  such  a  tribute — full  of  honor  alike 
to  the  giver  and  receiver.  It  is  not  that  every  where  paid  to  a  mere  success 
ful  general. — For,  whatever  claims  Washington  may  have  had  for  military 
services,  they  sink  into  nothing,  when  compared  with  his  civic  virtues.  A  suc 
cessful  general  is  of  ordinary  occurrence,  and  the  product  of  every  age.— But, 
it  was  reserved  for  Washington,  in  the  midst  of  civil  war,  in  every  emergen 
cy — both  in  adverse  and  prosperous  circumstances — to  practice  the  great 
principle  of  republics — a  subordination  of  the  military  to  the  civil  authority — 
and,  finally,  to  seize  the  first  fit  occasion  that  offered,  to  lay  his  wreaths  and 
his  power  on  the  altar  of  an  emancipated  country. 

Brutus  has  been  honored  by  the  applause  of  the  patriots  of  every  succeeding 
age,  for  having  plunged  the  avenging  steel  in  the  bosom  of  an  usurping  gene 
ral — an  act,  in  the  poet's  eve,  more  sublime  "  than  planets,  suns,  and  ada 
mantine  spheres,  wheeling  unshaken  through  the  void  immense" — but  Wash 
ington  surpassed  Brutus;  for  he  triumphed  over  himself.  In  the  whole  course 
of  rny  reading,  I  have  seen  nothing,  that  addressed  itself  with  such  anirre- 
sistable  pathos  to  my  feelings,  as  Washington  resigning  his  commission  and 
retiring;  to  private  life.  I  actually  performed  a  pilgrimage  to  Annapolis — a 
cotemporary  pointed  to  the  particular  spot  where  the  august  scene  occurred — 
there,  I  involuntarily  exclaimed,  his  monument  should  be  erected — for, 
there  he  consummated  his  glory!  From  that  point  a  new  and  hitherto  un 
trodden  path  to  fame  commenced,  ^roin  that  time  Washington  ceased  to  be 
long  exclusively  to  Virginia,  his  birtl  -place,  or  to  America,  his  country.  He 
was  now  the  property  of  the  human  race;  at  whose  head  he  was  placed,  by 
their  universal  acclaim.  And,  although  his  example  may  be  but  ieebly  imi 
tated  by  groSvSer  natures — yet  his  character  has  become  a  barometer  of  the 
moral  world;  and  by  it  are  calculated  the  claims  of  others  on  the  gratitude  of 
•mankind.  It  stands,  a  shining  example  to  the  nations  of  the  earth,  destined 
to  survive  the  convulsions  of  states,  and  the  overthrow  of  republics;  and,  at 
which,  after  an  intervening  eclipse,  future  patriots  will  rekindle  the  extin 
guished  lamps  of  Liberty 

With  what  delight  did  we  listen  to  our  worthy  presiding  officer,  when  he 
opened  the  second  drama,  in  which  Washington  acted  so  conspicuous  a  part! 
Those  halcyon  days  form  a  moral  crisis  amid  the  desolation  of  time.  Thir 
teen  iutant  republics,  guided  alone  by  its  intelligence,  and  virtue,  and  love 
ofliberty,  uniting  their  destiny,  by  a  new  form  of  Government,  whose  linea 
ments  proclaim  the  most  majestic  eitbrt  of  the  human  mind — its  administra 
tion  committed  to  Washington,  the  tutelary  genius  of  America — and  charged 
with  the  future  hopes  of  man!  With  what  anxious,  fearful  hopes  did  the  op 
pressed  of  the  earth  gaze  on  this  prodigy,  in  the  twilight  of  its  birth;  but 
when  it  began  to  rise  in  grandeur  above  the  horizon,  and  pursue  its  upward 
path  to  the  high  place  assigned  it,  in  the  constellation  of  nations — in  its  ascent, 
becoming  more  and  more  brilliant,  till  its  effulgent  rays  penetrated  the  darkest 
and  uttermost  corners  of  the  earth,  with  what  rapturous  hosannas  was  its  pro 
gress  hailed!  Washington  nursed  in  its  infancy,  with  a  parent's  care,  this 
great  scheme  of  human  happiness,  and  reared  it  to  maturity.  Would  to  God, 
his  mantle  had  fallen  on  all  his  successorsJ-^-Vain  and  extravagant  wish! — His 
like,  I  fear,  we  shall  see  no  more. 

I  will  only  add,  that  the  name  of  Washington  is  as  dear  to  Union  as  to 
liberty—  terms  which,  to  an  American  patriot,  should  bo  synonymous.  His 


15 

legacy  to  his  countrymen,  teems  in  every  paragraph  with  this  great  and  valued 
political  truth. 

It  has  exercised  a  most  beneficent  influence  on  our  best  and  dearest  hopes, 
and  will  continue  so  to  do,  till  Providence  withdraws  from  us  the  light  of 
His  countenance.  Let  us,  then,  identify  the  name  of  Washington  with  Un 
ion,  and  hold  the  enemies  of  the  one,  the  enemies  of  the  other. 

On  such  an  occasion  as  this,  we  will  turn  away  from  contemplating  the  pos 
sibility  of  such  a  calamity.  If  the  Athenian  lawgiver  thought  it  unnecessary  t» 
provide  against  parricide,  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  American  people 
must  relieve  us  from  the  apprehension  of  a  more  atrocious  crime  We  will 
rather  indulge  the  hope,  that  each  revolving  year  will  be  solemnized  with  an 
universal  festival  to  the  memory  of  Washington:  that  the  absorbing  theme 
every  where  will  be  Union  and  Liberty;  and,  that  the  same  sentiments 
which  have  been  so  enthusiastically  received  among  us  to-night  may  continue 
to  animate  succeeding  generations,  till  time  shall  be  no  more! 

The  following  sentiment  was  then  given  by  Mr.  B. 

"  May  Disciples  of  the  Washington  School  rise  up  among  every  oppressed  People,  and  Iea4 
them  out  of  bondage!" 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  DAY  now  rose,  and  said — 

Gentlemen,  the  associations  of  this  day,  the  great  names  to  which  we  have 
done  honor,  and  especially  the  patriotic,  affecting,  and  truly  American  speech 
we  have  just  heard,  impel  me  to  pro'pose  to  you  the  following  toast: 

'*  The  ancient  Commonwealth  of  Virginia." 

Mr.  HUNFINGTON.  of  Connecticut,  being  then  called  upon,  rose,  and 
said — In  responding  to  the  call  of  the  Chair,  I  avail  myself  of  the  opportuni 
ty  it  affords,  to  suggest  some  thoughts  connected  with  the  sentiment  which 
I  shall  propose,  and  which,  I  trust,  are  in  unison  with  the  occasion  on  which 
we  have  convened. 

Assembled  to  commemorate  the  birth  of  the  greatest  earthly  benefactor  of 
our  beloved  country,  and  to  honor  the  natal  day  of  him,  the  memory  of  whose 
transcendant  worth,  will  remain  as  long  as  the  records  of  American  history 
shall  endure,  no  occasion  can  be  more  suitable  than  this,  to  meditate  on  the 
great  principles  which  guided  him  in  the  discharge  of  all  his  public  duties, 
which  were  inculcated  by  his  example,  his  counsel,  and  his  acts,  which  were 
embodied  in  his  "  Farewell  Address,"  and  left  as  a  rich  legacy  to  his  fellow- 
citizens^  and  to  renew  our  pledges  of  attachment  and  devotion  to  our  c  >m- 
mon  country,  its  union,  its  liberty,  and  its  interests,  which  those  principles 
are  so  eminently  calculated  to  foster. 

Among  the  many  wise  counsels  which  our  Washington  has  left  on  record, 
for  the  benefit  of  his  countrymen,  no  one  holds  a  more  prominent  place,  than 
that  which  inculcates  the  duties  of  "  respect  for  the  authority,  compliance 
with  the  laws,  and  acquiescence  in  the  measures"  of  the  Government  which 
the  PEOPLE  have  established,  expressed  in  the  forms  which  the  constitution, 
made  and  ratified  by  them,  had  prescribed.  If  there  was  any  one  subject, 
on  which,  more  than  any  other,  he  dwelt  with  intense  interest,  deep  solici 
tude,  and  affectionate  entreaty,  it  was  that  which  has  reference  to  the  preser 
vation  of  the  UNION — the  foundations  of  which  were  laid  in  the  constitution, 
and  which  can  be  dissolved,  only  by  wantonly  disregarding,  or  openly  violat 
ing  the  fundamental  principle,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey 
the  Government  established  by  the  PEOPLE,  u  until  changed  by  an  authentic 
act  of  the  WHOLE  PEOPLE."  Hence,  his  repeated  admonitions  to  discounte 
nance  whatever  had  a  tendency  to  lessen  the  value  of  our  Union — or,  in  the 
remotest  degree,  to  impair  the  confidence  of  the  public  in  its  indispensable  ne- 


\ 


cessityto  preserve  our  liberty  and  national  prosperity— or  to  weaken  the  lig 
ament  which  binds  us  together,  as  ONE  people — or  to  create  an  impression, 
that  under  any  circumstances,  our  union  can  be  abandoned.     With  almost  a 
prophetic  eye,  he  surveyed  the  future,  and  foresaw,  that  the  time  might  ar 
rive,  when  sectional  feefings  would  be  indulged— local  prejudices  fostered — 
State  pride  assume  the  language  of  menace — State  power   be  invoked  to  re 
sistance,  when  an  appeal  would  be  made  to  sectional  interests,  to  the  spirit 
of  party;  when  faction  would  exert  all  its  energies  to  accomplish  its  unlawful 
purposes — when  artifice  would  be  resorted  to,  to  weaken  or  destroy  the  con 
viction,  that  without  union  there  is  ne  security  for   liberty — when   attempts 
would  be  made  to  spread  the  poison  of  disunion  throughout  the  country.     All 
this,  the  «*  Father  of  his  country  "  anticipated  might  happen;  and  he  warned 
his  fellow-citizens  of  its  disastrous  result;  and  all  the  energies  of  his  mind 
were  collected  and  concentrated  in  the  effort  to  persuade  them,  that  so  long 
as  they  cherished  a  devoted  attachment  to  the  Union,  and  frowned  on  any  at 
tempt  to  remove  this  foundation  stone  of  their  liberty  and  prosperity;  so  long 
as  they  sustained,  by  their  united  efforts,  the  constitution  of  their  own  choice, 
and   preserved,  in   their  purity,  the  principles  on  which  it  was  based,  and 
should  be  administered,  and  brought  to  their  aid  the  indispensable  supports 
of  religion  and  morality,  they  would  remain  a  free,  prosperous,  and  happy 
people.     It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  listen  te  these  admonitions;  to  look  criti 
cally  at  the  "signs  of  the  times;"  and    to  renew  our  exertions  to  sustain  the 
the  great  elementary  principles  on  which  our  Government  is  founded,  and 
which  were  pressed  on  our  consideration,  so  often,  so  earnestly,  and  with  so 
much  affection,  by  our  departed  Washington.     Every  friend  to  his  country, 
and  its  institutions,  whatever  may  be  his  station  or  occupation,  is  called  upon 
to  contribute  his  aid  to  4k  build  up  the  waste  places;"  to  see  that  the  "ancient 
landmarks"  are  not  removed;  to  gather  round  our  ark  of  political  liberty;    to 
give  support  and  strength  to  our  union;  and  to  awaken  a  spirit  which  will  effect 
ually  defeat  every  open  or  covert  attempt  to  alienate  the  affections  of  the  people 
from  that  constitution  of  Governmeut,  which,  by  the  goodness  of  Providence, 
has  bestowed  on  our  nation  so  many  blessings.     Should  efforts  be  made,  by 
"  internal  or  external  enemies,"  to  weaken  the  bond  of  our  Union;  to  cut 
asunder  the  chain  which   holds  us  together  as  one  people;  to  demolish  the 
inain  pillar  in  our  political   edifice;  to  reduce  us  to  the  condition  of  weak, 
conflicting  confederacies — if  indications  should  appear,  that  a  crisis  was  ap 
proaching,  when   every  thing  we   hold  dear,  connected  with  our  civil  rights, 
and  our  national  prosperity,  were  in  danger  of  being  forever  lost  to  us;  when 
the  hopes  of  departed   patriots,  that  our  Union   would  be  perpetual,  would 
seem  about  to  be  extinguished;  when  opinions  should  be  openly  avowed,  and 
political  theories  advanced,  which,  in  their  practical  effects,  would  be  subver 
sive  of  the  unity  of  our  Government,  it  should    be  equally  the  duty  and  the 
privilege  of  all  who  love  the  memory,  and  revere  the  principles  of  Washing 
ton,  not  to  suffer  a  precious  inheritance,  acquired  by  the  sufferings  and  blood 
of  their  ancestors,  and  enriched  by  the  counsels  and  efforts  of  statesmen  and 
patriots,  to  be  lost  by  their  pusillanimity,  or   neglect.     And  imperious  is  the 
obligation  which  rests  on  every  good  citizen,  to  watch,  with  unceasing  vigil 
ance,  every  movement  towards  disunion,  and  to  crush  every  effort  to  make  us 
a  divided  people. 

On  this  day,  devoted  to  the  commemoration  of  the  birth  of  the  illustrious 
individual,  whose  every  feeling  was  for  his  country,  and  the  perpetuity  of  its 
union,  it  becomes  every  AMERICAN,  to  lay  his  hand  on  the  altar  dedicated  to 
that  Union,  and  there  renew  his  solemn  pledge,  to  be  faithful  to  the  constitu 
tion—to  defend  it  against  the  attacks  of  its  epen  enemies,  and  its  pretended 


17 

friends—to  sustain  it,  in  the  full  exercise  of  its  legitimate  powers,  and  to 
transmit  it,  unimpaired,  to  posterity. 

It  is  in  this  spirit,  and  with  feelings  prompted  by  the  occasion,  which  has,  at 
this  time,  brought  us  together,  that  I  propose  the  following  sentiment: 

"  OUR  NATIONAL  UNIOJT— May  ardent  attachment  to  the  principles  on  which  it  was  formed, 
and  a  fixed  determination  to  preserve  them  unimpaired,  ever  be  a  test  of  American  patriotism." 

Mr  NEWTON,  representative  from  Virginia,  then  rose,  in  compliance 
with  a  ca!l  from  the  chair,  and  addressed  the  company  as  follows: — I  obey, 
Mr  President,  with  the  same  promptitude  that  others  have,  the  call  made  on 
me  for  a  toast.  As  it  was  unlooked  for,  it  takes  me  by  surprise.  On  your 
patience  I  shall  not  venture  10  trespass.  For  after  what  we  have  heard,  and 
admired,  what  is  left  for  me  to  utter? — what  ian  I  say,  were  I  competent  to 
the  task?  If  eloquence  were  necessary  to  give  lustre  to  the  fame  and  worth 
of  him  whose  centennial  birth  day  we  commemorate,  all  its  powers  and  pathos 
have  been  exhausted.  The  example  which  Washington  exhibited  through 
life,  in  all  its  varied  scenes,  speaks — eloquently  speaks,  with  resistless  force, 
to  every  understanding.  It  awakens  emulation — it  inspires  every  breast  with 
sentiments  of  ardent  patriotism.  In  every  action  of  his  life,  his  object  was  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  No  local  considera 
tions  and  feelings  diverted  him  from  it.  Can  such  a  character,  as  rare  as  a 
miracle,  deserve  less  than  a  nation's  gratitude?  From  every  part  of  this 
union,  we  see,  assembled  here,  citizens  who  nobly  contend  with  each  other 
who  shall  honor  and  revere  most  the  name  and  virtues  of  the  father  of  his 
country.  Grateful,  indeed,  are  my  feelings,  Mr  President,  that  a  citizen  of 
my  native  state  should  have  performed  actions  that  have  given  to  every  citi 
zen,  in  every  state  of  the  union,  brotherly  affections  for  him,  and  made  him, 
not  the  isolated  and  distinguished  citizen  of  a  particular  state,  but  the  great 
patron  and  benefactor  of  all.  His  first  object,  when  independence  was  won, 
was  to  perpetuate  it.  He,  with  many  of  those  who  assisted  to  achieve  it, 
formed  the  constitution.  He  strongly  recommended  its  adoption;  and  when 
it  was  ratified  by  the  people  of  the  several  states,  he  was  unanimously  chosen 
the  first  president  under  it.  If  this  nation  enjoys  more  political  consideration 
and  freedom — if  civil  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man  are  better  secured,  better 
understood,  and  more  firmly  established  here  than  in  anj  other  nation,  we 
owe,  under  Providence,  to  Washington  and  his  coadjutors,  such  national 
blessings.  Let  us  appreciate  them  as  we  should,  and  look  to  the  constitution 
of  rhe  United  States  as  the  ark  in  which  is  deposited  the  vital  and  animating 
spirit  that  alone  can  preserve  and  perpetuate  them. 

Mr  President,  permit  me  to  give  a  toast: 

"  The  Constitution  of  the  Umted  States— ESTO  PEHPETUA!" 

Mr  Senator  HOLMES  having  been  in  turn  called  upon  said: — Mr  Presi 
dent,  when  we  reflect  how  much  our  liberty  depends  on  virtue  and  intelligence, 
and  how  much  these  depend  on  the  instructions  and  example  of  wives  and 
mothers,  it  cannot  be  deemed  improper  on  great  political  occasions  to  call  them 
to  our  special  remembrance.  It  is,  at  this  time,  peculiarly  appropriate  to 
most  of  us,  who  are  so  long  excluded  from  domestic  endearments.  But,  as 
this  is  a  subject  too  delicate  for  a  speech,  and  as  I  have  embraced  what  I 
would  say  in  the  sentiment  I  shall  give,  I  take  the  liberty  to  present  you  the 
following: 

"OUR  LADIES  — May  they  continue  to  frown  at  vice,  and  to  cherish  and  reward  virtue;  and 
thus  contribute  to  perpetuate  THAT  WBERTX  which  OUR  WASHINGTON  contributed,  so  mnch,  tn 
achieve.7' 
ifiinJ  JbOtll   ^Jfe.u'U/!:'iJJ!Jiiu 


18 

Mr  STORER,  of  Ohio,  being  called  upon,  said,  in  substance— It  is  not 
usual  with  us,  in  the  west,  to  make  speeches  on  offering  a  sentiment;  but,  as 
explanatory  of  that  which  I  am  about  to  propose,  I  will  just  remark,that  the  trav 
eller  on  the  National  Road  from  Cumberland  to  Wheeling  will  have  observed, 
a  little  west  of  the  Laurel  Mountain,  a  spot,  still  known  by  the  name  of  Fort 
Necessity:  and  a  little  farther  westward  will  be  pointed  out  to  him  another 
spot,  celebrated  as  the  field  of  Braddock's  defeat.  With  this  explanation,  I 
propose — 

"THE  WEST:  As  she  first  witnessed  the  valor  of  Washington,  she  will  be  the  last  to  abandon 
his  fame  or  his  principles." 

Mr  Senator  SPRAGUE,  of  Maine,  was  then  called  upon,  and  addressed 
the  company. — It  might  be  supposed,  (he  began  by  saying,)  that  a  subject 
which  has  attracted  the  attention  and  elicited  remarks  from  such  gentlemen 
as  those  who  have  already  addressed  us,  must  be  entirely  exhausted;  and  so 
indeed  it  would,  were  it  one  of  ordinary  import.  But  the  memory  of  Wrash- 
ington  is  a  mine  of  moral  and  intellectual  wealth  of  such  richness  and  extent, 
as  can  never  be  exhausted,  however  numerous  and  efficient  the*laborers. 

In  contemplating  his  character,  as  a  subject  of  eulogium,  the  mind  is  over 
whelmed  with  a  conscious  inability  to  fathom  and  embrace  it.  Indeed  it 
would  require  powers  approximating  to  those  of  the  great  original  himself, 
fully  to  comprehend  and  appreciate  it. 

In  attempting  to  select  some  peculiar  and  distinguishing  endowment  for  ad 
miration  and  remark,  we  find  that  all  the  qualities  of  greatness  and  goodness 
are  so  fully  and  equally  blended,  as  to  produce  an  almost  invincible  repug- 
uance  to  the  omission  of  any. 

In  other  pre-eminent  men,  a  single,  rare,  and  wonderful  gift  of  nature, 
some  peculiar  developemnt  of  genius,  some  one  great  characterizing  power, 
has  stood  out  prominent  and  alone;  fixing  the  attention  and  challenging  the 
wonder  of  the  beholder. 

But,  in  him,  it  is  the  combined  whole  that  constitutes  the  unparalleled  per 
fection  of  character — concentrating  "the  purest  and  best  of  all  other  men's 
powers" — the  genius,  order,  energy,  and  daring  of  the  hero — controlled  and 
directed  by  the  judgment  of  the  philosopher,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  sage- 
chastened  and  purified  by  the  disinterestedness  of  the  patriot,  and  the  piety 
of  the  Christian. 

This  symmetry  as  a  whole — this  perfection  of  character  in  all  its  parts— - 
has  produced  upon  the  minds  of  the  unreflecting,  a  less  impression  of  great- 
Bess  and  strength,  than  would  the  defects  of  irregularity  and  wildness;  as 
the  more  perfect  the  proportions  of  a  mighty  edifice,  the  less  the  impression  of 
ks  vastness  upon  the  casual  and  transient  beholder. 

But  if  I  were  called  upon  to  designate  some  one  scene  as  more  characteris 
tic  and  glorious  than  any  other,  it  would  not  be  Washington,  as  commander- 
in-chief  of  our  armies;  even  when,  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  with  three 
thousand  \\\  fed,  ill  clad,  continental  soldiers,  he  held  in  check  thirty  thousand 
well  appointed  British  veterans. — It  would  not  be  Washington  as  the  first 
chief  magistrate  of  this  new-created  republic,  pre-eminent  in  the  midst  of 
those  great  names  which  clustered  around  him;  but  it  would  be  that  spectacle 
of  unequalled  moral  sublimity,  when,  at  the  close  of  a  revolution  of  violence, 
protracted  and  bloody,  he — the  successful  general — the  triumphant  warrior  of 
that  revolution— with  an  army,  needy,  destitute,  enthusiastically  devoted  to 
him — with  a  country,  exhausted,  and  prostrate  before  him — voluntarily  dis 
banded  that  army,  and  laid  down  his  power.  It  was  then,  when  divesting 
himself  of  what,  in  the  vulgar  vocabulary  of  the  world,  is  called  greatness,  he 
was,  in  the  eye  of  the  patriot,  the  philosopher,  the  philanthropist,  most  truly 


19 

great.  Others  have  ascended  the  heights  of  human  power,  and  their  feeble 
brain  becoming  giddy  by  the  unnatural  elevation,  has  precipitated  them 
headlong  into  the  abyss  beneath.  But  the  original  exaltation  of  his  mind 
ranged  in  a  far  higher  sphere,  and  he  could  look  down  with  calmness,  self 
collected,  self  controlled,  and  descend  with  ease,  dignity,  and  security. 

We  have  heard  of  other  Washingtons!  for  there  have  been  sycophants  who 
could  impiously  attempt  to  write  his  sacred  name  upon  the  front  of  their 
wretched  and  transient  idols. 

It  was  said  by  Bonaparte,  that  he  was  once  expected  to  become  the  Wash 
ington  of  France,  but  that  it  was  not  in  his  power.  No — even  Napoleon,  at 
whose  name  kings  and  princes  trembled — in  whose  path  thrones  and  empires 
were  trodden  to  the  dust — even  he  could  not  be  a  Washington.  And  there 
never  has  been  another  mortal  man,  who,  without  the  aid  ot  divine  inspiration, 
could  be  a  Washington.  Bolivar,  too,  in  his  day,  was  called  the  Washington 
of  Colombia!  He  is  gone — peace  to  his  ashes!  But  it  was  well  said,  at  the 
time,  that  we  would  not  give  our  dead  Washington  for  all  the  living  Bolivars 
that  the  world  could  boast:  and  I  will  now  say,  that  I  would  not  give  one  of 
those  bones,  that  now  repose  in  the  hallowed  shades  of  Mount  Vernon,  for  the 
whole  muster  roll  of  rank  and  file  heroes  that  crowd  the  crimsoned  records  of 
history. 

Who  shall  estimate  the  influence  of  his  life  upon  the  destinies  of  the  human 
race?  Cast  your  recollection  backward  one  century  to  the  day  we  now 
commemorate —contemplate  the  political  thraldom  of  the  world — mark  the 
march  of  freedom  and  of  intellect,  to  the  present  time — carry  your  imagination 
forward  one  century  hence — and  dwell  for  a  moment  upon  the  beatific  visions 
of  the  future,  and  then  say  what  the  world  owes  to  the  birth  day  of  Wash 
ington. 

I  am  admonished  by  the  lateness  of  the  hour,  not  to  trust  myself  further 
upon  this  copious  exhaustless  theme;  and  I  will  detain  you  only  by  offering 
this  sentiment: 

"The  Patriot  Hero  of  our  Revolution — the  Christian  Statesman  of  our  Republic — great  in 
goodness,  and  good  in  greatness." 

Mr  PENDLETON,  of  New  York,  being  called  upon,  said—Assuredly, 
Mr  President,  I  had  not  the  least  expectation  of  performing  any  other  part 
than  that  of  a  listener  during  the  celebration  of  this  day.  But,  sir,  since  you 
have  been  pleased  to  call  upon  me,  as  the  representative  of  New  York  at  this 
board,  I  cannot,  for  a  moment,  hesitate  to  comply  with  your  request.  I  have 
looked  around  me  with  some  anxiety,  and  regret  to  find  that,  besides  myself, 
there  is,  to  my  knowledge,  at  least  but  one  gentleman  present  from  the  state  ot" 
New  York.  It  would  have  given  me  pleasure  to  have  had  the  support  of  a  greater 
number;  but,  since  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  allow  me  to  say  that  the  indi 
vidual  to  whom  I  refer,  in  the  sentiment  which  I  am  about  to  offer,  bears  a 
name  which  is  in  itself  a  host,  so  replete  is  it  with  interesting  associations—' 
I  allude,  Mr  President,  to  the  name  of  CLINTON.  It  may  perhaps  be  supposed 
that,  upon  this  occasion,  it  would  become  me  to  ascend  higher  up  the  stream, 
and  rather  call  to  your  recollection  GEORGE  CLINTON,  the  ancestor  of  our  de 
parted  statesman,  the  friend  and  fellow  soldier  of  Gen.  WASHINGTON.  He  was 
one  whose  public  services  eminently  entitle  hirn  to  be  remembered,  when  they 
are  remembered  who  stood  by  their  country  in  the  day  of  distress.  But  1  hope, 
sir,  that  I  shall  not  be  thought  to  violate  the  propriety  of  this  celebration,  nor 
take  a  step  too  near  our  own  times,  if  upon  this  occasion  I  express  to  you  no 
other  sentiment  than — 

rt  The  memory  of  DE WITT  GusToy." 


Mr  Senator  CHAMBERS  (chairman  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,) 
beir<i  next  n-quired  to  give  a  sentiment,  said,  he  could  not  but  remark  h  w 
ai  MV  he  verified  the  condition  incident  to  all  human  power.  But  a  moment 
sin  -e,  he  had  been  vested  with  a  "little  brief  authority,"  and  now  4  at  a 
word*'  he  was  not  disrobed,  but  actually  in  a  state  of  obedience  to  a  power 
(pointing;  to  the  chair)  which  must  not  be  resisted.  As  no  officer  is  fit  to 
command  who  knows  not  how  to  obey,  he  would  yield. 

To  be  serious,  then,  Mr  President,  (said  Mr  C  )  I  will  give  you  a  sentiment. 
A  -peech  the  company  will  not  expert.  Nothing  can  be  added  to  which  has 
be»n  so  eloquently  and  so  justly  said,  in  eulogy  of  fie  great  name,  in  honor 
of  which  we  are  here.  The  features  that  adorned  the  character  of  the  great 
and  good  man,  who  is  this  day  affectionately  recognised  by  twelve  millions  ot 
f re  -men  as  their  common  father,  and  their  best  benefactor,  have  been  pic 
tured  to  us  in  terms  so  glowing  as  to  fill  our  heaits  with  joy  and  gratitude. 
Memory  has  pursued  his  steps  through  all  the  varied  relations  of  his  eventful 
life,  and  the  faithful  history  of  "times  gone  by,"  has  assured  us  how  admira 
bly  and  how  nobly  he  fulfilled  the  duties  of  the  citizen,  the  soldier,  and  the 
statesman,  how  pure  the  principles,  how  meek  the  virtues  ,that  made  him  the 
great  exemplar,  fit  to  be  exhibited  to  an  admiring  world,  for  the  imitation  ot 
heroe>  and  sages  in  all  after  time. 

Mr  President,  in  our  fond  admiration  of  these  virtues  displayed  in  the  bright 
cirrle  of  his  social  and  political  life,  we  should  never  cease  to  recollect  that 
they  were  based  upon  that  only  foundation  which  could  sustain  them  amidst 
the  storms  of  ambitious  passions,  and  the  seductions  of  long  possessed  power. 
"Washington  was  a  Christian. 

That  Providence  which  designed  him  to  fill  the  measure  of  man's  highest, 
nobhst  destiny,  which  raised  him  up  as  it  had  done  the  lawgiver  of  old,  **  to 
lead  forth  his  people  to  the  promised  land,"  would  have  acted  inconsistently 
with  those  immutable  principles  prescribed  to  our  race,  had  it  failed  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  his  character  in  a  deep  and  abiding  sense  of  his  relations  to  his 
God.  Sir,  (said  Mr  C.)  in  the  glorious  diadem  which  crowns  with  immortal 
honor  the  brow  of  our  sainted  Washington,  the  most  brilliant  gem  is  the  deep- 
toned  piety,  the  sacred  respect  for  religion  and  morality,  which  regulated  all 
conditions  and  every  act  of  his  life.  His  soul,  agitated  as  it  was  with  scenes 
of  mighty  moment,  was  ever  alive  to  the  recollections,  that  when  the  grand 
purposes  of  his  Creator  were  consummated  by  his  agency  in  this  life,  there 
were  destinies  of  a  higher — far  nobler,  and  more  enduring  kind,  awaiting  him 
in  the  life  to  come. 

What  he  had  found  alone  capable  of  sustaining  himself,  he  could  not  fail  to 
commend  to  others.  His  parental  care,  which,  with  so  much  anxious  solici 
tude,  looked  to  the  happiness  of  his  children,  has  admonished  us  to  regard, 
with  a  single  eye,  this  most  momentous  truth,  on  which  rest  the  very  founda 
tions  of  our  political  hopes,  that  the  proper  character  of  *•  man  and  citizen" 
is  not  to  be  found,  but  in  union  with  the  principles  of  religion  arid  morality. 
This  useful  lesson  he  has  bequeathed  to  us  as  our  best  legacy  in  his  farewell 
address,  from  the  words  of  which  1  offer  the  following  sentiment: 

"Religion  and  Morality,"  " the  great  pillars  of  human  happiness — the  firmest  props  of  the 
duties  of  men  and  citizens." 

Mr  WEBSTER  now  rose  and  said — 

If  it  had  been  allowecius  as  intelligent  agents  to  choose  at  what  period  or 
place,  we  would  pass  the  portion  ol  time  allotted  to  us,  in  this  world,  we  could 
n<u,  I  think,  have  selected  otherwise,  than  the  kindness  of  Providence  has  se 
lected  for  us.  At  what  period  could  we  have  chosen  to  live,  or  in  what  coun 
try  to  dwell,  rather  than  at  the  present  time,  and  where  we  are?  For  one. 


21 

when  I  see  how  full  of  interest  is  the  passing  age,  and  how  favored  of  Provi 
dence,  is  our  nadve  land,  I  am  grateful  to  the  Dispenser  of  all  things,  that 
my  '>\vn  lot  has  been  so  cast.  It  is  a  period  of  new  moral  elevation  of  the  human 
characier,  a  time  of  active  benevolence,  and  excited  exertion  for  the  diffusion 
of  knowledge;  and  a  time  when  every  day  seems  to  bring  with  it  some  im 
provements  in  affairs,  or  to  strike  out  something  interesting  by  the  efforts  or 
the  collision,  of  hfiian  thoughts — The  short  space  of  life  is  lengthened  by 
these  means  of  filling  it  with  new  i<leas,  new  enjoyments,and  new  hopes.  And 
while  we  witness  this  improvement,  and  this  progress  of  things,  around  us,  and 
in  the  midst  of  us,  we  live  in  a  land  of  peace,  and  health,  and  plenty;  a  c-  un- 
try  of  religious  and  civil  liberty — a  country  not  behind  any  of  its  cotempora- 
ries,  in  whatever  distinguishes  the  age. 

As  a  sincere  expression  of  my  own  feelings,  I  give  you,  gentlemen—- 

"  Our  Times  and  our  Country." 

Mr  WEBSTER  having  retired — 

M»  CHAMBERS  being  in  the  Chair,  now  called  upon  Mr  ROBBINS  of  Rhode 
Island.  When, 

Mr  Senator  ROBBINS,  of  Rhode  Island  now  addressed  the  company  as 
follows: 

GENTLEMEN — I  beg  leave  to  offer  a  sentiment;  but  first,  with  your  indul 
gence,  will  offer  a  few  remarks,  not  inappropriate,  1  hope,  to  the  occasion. 

It  is  the  peculiar  good  fortune  of  this  country,  to  have  given  birth  toaciti- 
zen,  whose  name  every  where  produces  a  sentiment  of  regard  for  his  country 
itself.  In  other  countries,  whenever  or  wherever  this  is  spoken  of  to  be  prais 
ed,  and  with  the  highest  praise,  it  is  called  the  country  of  Washington.  I 
believe  there  is  no  people,  civilized  or  savage,  in  any  place,  however  remote, 
where  the  name  of  Washington  has  not  been  heard,  and  where  it  is  not  repeat 
ed  with  the  fondest  admiration.  We  are  told,  that  the  Arab  of  the  Desert 
talks  of  Washington  in  his  tent,  and  that  his  name  is  familiar  to  the  wander 
ing  Scythian.  He  seems,  indeed,  to  be  the  delight  of  human  kind,  as 
their  beau  ideal  of  human  nature.  "Nil  oriturum  alias,  nil  ortum  tale  fa- 
tentes." 

No  American,  in  no  part  of  the  world,  but  has  found  the  regard  for  him 
self  increased  by  his  connection  with  Washington,  as  his  fellow-countryman; 
and  who  has  not  felt  a  pride,  and  had  occasion  to  exult  in  the  fortunate  con 
nection? 

Half  a  century  and  more  has  now  passed  away,  since  h^  came  upon  the 
stage,  and  hi?  fame  first  broke  upon  the  world;  for  it  broke  like  the  blaze  of 
day  from  the  rising  sun — almost  as  sudden*  and  seemingly  as  universal.  The 
eventful  period,  since  that  era,  has  teemed  with  great  men,  who  have  crossed 
the  scene  and  passed  off.  Some  of  them  have  arrested  great  attention— v^ry 
great:  still  Washington  retains  his  pre-eminent  place  in  the  minds  of  men — 
still,  his  peerless  name  is  cherished  by  them  in  the  same  freshness  of  delight, 
as  in  the  morn  of  its  glory. 

History  will  keep  her  record  of  his  fame;  but  history  is  not  necessary  to 
perpetuate  it.  In  regions,  where  history  is  not  read,  where  letters  are  un 
known,  it  lives,  and  will  go  down  from  age  to  age,  in  all  future  time,  in  their 
traditionary  lore. 

Who  would  exchange  this  fame,  the  common  inheritance  of  our  country, 
for  the  fame  of  any  individual,  which  any  country  of  any  time  can  boast? — I 
would  not;  with  my  sentiments,  1  could  not. 

I  recollect,  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Washington;  indeed,  it  is  impossible  I 
should  forget  it,  or  recollect  it  without  the  liveliest  emotion.  1  was  then  a 


child  at  school;  the  school  was  dismissed,  and  we  were  told,  that  General 
Washington  was  expected  in  town  that  day,  on  his  way  to  Cambridge,  to  take 
command  of  the  American  Arm)'.  We,  the  children,  were  permitted  to 
mingle  with  the  people,  who  had  assembled  in  mass  to  see  him.  I  did  see 
him;  I  rivetted  my  eyes  upon  him;  I  could  now,  were  I  master  of  the  pencil, 
delineate  with  exact  truth  his  form  and  features,  and  every  particular  of  his 
costume:  so  vivid  are  my  recollections.  I  never  can  forget  the  feelings  his 
sublime  presence  inspired.  How  often  afterwards,  when  I  came,  in  my  stu 
dies,  to  learn  them,  have  I  repeated  and  applied,  as  expressive  of  that  feel 
ing,  these  lines — 

"  Quern  sese  ore  ferens,  quam  forti  pectore  et  armis 
"Credo  equidem,  nee  vana  fides,  genus  esse  Deorum." 

He  did  seem  to  me  more  than  mortal.  It  is  true  this  was  young  and  ignorant, 
enthusiasm;  but  though  young  and  ignorant,  it  was  not  false;  it  was  enthusi 
asm,  which  my  riper  judgment  has  always  recognized  as  just — it  was  but  the 
anticipated  sentiment  of  the  whole  human  kind. 

I  now  beg  leave  to  ottV r  this  sentiment: 

"The  written  legacy  of  Washington  to  his  countrymen — A  code  of  politics,  by  whiJi,  and  b.y 
-vhich  alone,  as  he  believed,  their  Union  and  their  liberties  can  be  made  immortal." 

Mr  R.  S.  COXE,  of  the  City  of  Washington,  was  next  called  upon  for  a 
Toast,  and  responded  thus: 

Mr  PRESIDENT — The  call  which  has  been  made  upon  me  on  this  occasion, 
is  wholly  unexpected.  I  had  not  anticipated,  that  it  would  be  required  at  my 
hands  to  contribute  to  swell  the  praises  of  the  illustrious  individual,  whose 
services  and  whose  virtues  we  have  this  day  commemorated.  Of  him  it  has 
beer,  justly  said  by  one  of  the  most  consummate  orators  and  accomplished 
statesmen  of  the  Old  World,  that  beyond  any  one  known  in  the  pages  of  his 
tory,  he  had  given  the  example  of  a  perfect  man.  In  all  the  relations  of  life, 
as  well  public  as  private,  he  has  stood  forth  unrivalled  and  unsurpassed. 

We  have,  this  day,  Mr.  President,  listened  with  delight  to  the  eloquent  de 
lineations  of  his  character,  and  the  exposition  of  his  principles  from  those  who 
were  competent  to  such  a  task.  They  have  left  little  to  be  added,  and  I 
should  shrink  from  the  vain  attempt  to  supply  their  deficiencies,  could  I  per 
ceive  that  any  such  existed.  I  may,  however,  be  peimitted  to  add  my  anx 
ious  desire  and  fervent  wish,  that  the  character  of  Washington  as  it  has  been 
4;his  day  delineated,  and  the  principles  of  Washington  as  they  have  been  this 
day  expounded,  may  become  familiar  to  every  individual  throughout  this  fa 
vored  land;  that  they  may  be  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  every  child,  as  ex 
hibiting  a  full  and  complete  model  of  his  duties  as  a  man  and  his  obligations 
as  a  citizen.  Could  this  wish  be  accomplished  in  its  full  extent,  our  country 
would  have  little  more  to  desire.  The  perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions 
would  be  ensured,  and  public  prosperity  and  private  happiness  be  placed  be 
yond  hazard. 

In  accordance  with  these  opinions  and  feelings,  I  would  beg  leave  to  pro 
pose  to  you,  Sir,  the  following  sentiment: 

;t  May  every  child  of  the  Republic  be  taught  to  admire,  to  venerate,  and  to  imitate,  the  charac 
ter  and  the  principles  of  Washington!" 

Mr  CRANE,  of  Ohio,  being  called  upon,  said,  he  could  not  expect  to  engage 
the  attention  of  the  company  by  a  speech.  He  would  merely  give  a  sentiment, 
which,  he  was  confident,  expressed  the  opinions  and  feelings  of  that  people, 
among  whose  Representatives  he  had  the  honor  to  be  numbered: 

"  TIIE  STATE  OF  OHIO.-— Though  not  ranked  among  those  States  who  adopted  the  Constitution  of 
•V  United  States,  the  bond  of  our  Union,  she  will  bo  amoi>g  the  foremost  to  sustain  and  defend  it." 


23 

The  following  additional  toasts  were  then  proposed  and  successively  drank; 

By  Mr  C.  I  Catlett.—"  VIRGINIA:  The  first  to  break  the  political  chains  of  Great  Britain,  she 
will  not  be  the  last  to  throw  off  commercial  bondage.— Her  chivalrous  sons  will  not  much  longer 
buy  their  coats  from  a  country,  whost  corn  laws  forbid  its  subjects  to  eat  her  bread  stuffs,  except 
when  they  are  starving." 

By  Mr  Charles  Tappan,  of  Mass.— "  WASHINGTON:  We  will  cherish  his  spirit,  though  we  may 
not  possess  his  body." 

ByM"  P.R.Fendall.—"  STATE  RIGHTS:  Best  asserted  in  maintaining  the  Union  of  the  States.* 

By  Mr  E  Cooke,  of  Ohio,—  "  THE  FAME  OF  WASHINGTON:  Bounded  only  by  the  circuit  of  the 
sun,  based  upon  the  eternal  foundations  of  liberty  and  virtue,  and  lifting  its  broad  column  to  the 
skies,  it  will  continue  to  stand,  immutable  and  imperishable,  while  truth  and  memory  shall  endur 
on  the  earth — looking  down  upon  all  things  else,  passing  to  oblivion — gathering  strength  from  the 
waste  of  centuries,  and  brightening  amid  the  ruins  of  Time." 

By  Dr.  Huntt,  of  Washington.—"  WASHINGTON'S  FAREWELL  ADDRESS:  The  sheet  anchor  of 
our  safety  in  the  political  storms  that  may  threaten  a  wreck  of  the  Union." 

By  Mr  Hodges*  of  Mass. — "The  spirit  of  the  Day:  Rebuking  the  madness  and  hypocrisy  of 
political  partizans,  it  sanctifies  and  instructs  both  the  fears  and  the  hopes  of  an  enlightened  patriotism" 

By  Mr  Z.  Collins  Lee .—"  The  Union  of  the  States,  the  noblest  monument  of  Washington 
May  it  be  as  sacred  and  enduring  as  the  Liberty  he  achieved !" 

By  one  of  the  Company.—"  DANIEL  WKBSTEH,  the  President  of  the  Day:  A  true  discipL  of 
Washington — the  Champion  of  the  Constitution — victorious,  invincible,  and  worthy  of  all  honor.*' 


PRESIDENT  WASHINGTON, 

TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


Friends,  and  Fellow-citizens^ 

The  period  for  a  new  election  of  a  citizen  to  administer  the  Executive 
Government  of  the  United  States  being  not  far  distant,  and  the  time  actual 
ly  arrived  when  your  thoughts  must  be  employed  in  designating  the  person 
who  is  to  be  clothed  with  that  important  trust,  it  appears  to  me  proper,  espe 
cially  as  it  may  conduce  to  a  more  distinct  expression  of  the  public  voice, 
that  I  should  now  apprize  you  of  the  resolution  I  have  formed,  to  decline  be 
ing  considered  among  the  number  of  those  out  of  whom  a  choice  is  to  be 
made. 

I  beg  you,  at  the  same  time,  to  do  me  the  justice  to  be  assured,  that  this  re 
solution  has  not  been  taken  without  a  strict  regard  to  all  the  considerations 
appertaining  to  the  relation  which  binds  a  dutiful  citizen  to  his  country;  and 
that,  in  withdrawing  the  tender  of  service,  which  silence,  in  my  situation, 
might  imply,  I  am  influenced  by  no  diminution  of  zeal  for  future  interest;  no 
deficiency  of  grateful  respect  for  your  past  kindness;  but  am  supported  by  a 
full  conviction  that  the  step  is  compatible  with  both. 

-/The  acceptance  of,  and  continuance  hitherto   in  the  office  to  which  your 

'suffrages  have  twice  called  me,  have  been  a  uniform  sacrifice  of  inclination  to 

the  opinion  of  duty,  and  to  a  deference  for  what  appeared  to  be  your  desire. 

I  constantly  hoped,  that  it  would  have  been  much  earlier  in  my  power,  con- 


24 

sistently  with  motives  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  disregard,  to  return  to 
that  retirement  from  which  1  had  been  reluctantly  drawn.  The  strength 
of  my  inclination  to  do  this,  previous  to  the  last  election,  had  <-ven  led  to  the 
preparation  of  an  address  to  declare  it  to  you  ;  but  mature  reflection  on  the 
then  perplexed  and  critical  posture  of  our  affairs  with  foreign  nations,  and 
the  unanimous  advice  of  persons  entitled  to  my  confidence,  impelled  me  to 
abandon  the  idea. 

1  rejoice  that  the  state  of  your  concerns,  external  as  well  as  internal,  no 
longer  renders  the  pursuit  of  inclination  incompatible  with  the  sentiment  of 
duty  or  propriety  ;  and  am  persuaded,  whatever  partiality  may  be  retained 
for  my  services,  that,  in  the  present  circumstances  of  our  country,  you  will 
not  disapprove  my  determination  to  retire. 

The  impressions  with  which  I  first  undertook  the  arduous  trust,  were  ex 
plained  on  the  proper  occasion.  In  the  discharge  of  this  trust,  I  will  only 
say,  that  I  have  with  good  intentions  contributed  towards  the  organization 
and  administration  of  the  Government  the  best  exertions  of  which  a  very  fal 
lible  judgment  was  capable.  Not  unconscious,  in  the  outset,  of  the  inferiori 
ty  of  my  qualifications,  experience  in  my  own  eyes,  perhaps  still  more  in  the 
eves  of  others,  has  strengthened  the  motives  to  diffidence  of  myself  5  and 
every  day  the  increasing  weight  of  years  admonishes  me  more  and  more  that 
the  shade  of  retirement  is  as  necessary  to  me  as  it  will  be  welcome.  Satisfied 
that,  if  any  circumstances  have  given  peculiar  value  to  my  services,  they 
were  temporary,  I  have  the  consolation  to  believe,  that,  while  choice  and 
prudence  invite  me  to  quit  the  political  scene,  patriotism  does  not  forbid  it. 

In  looking  forward  to  the  moment  which  is  intended  to  terminate  the  ca 
reer  of  my  public  life,  my  feelings  do  not  permit  me  to  suspend  the  deep 
acknowledgment  of  that  debt  of  gratitude  which  I  owe  to  my  beloved  country, 
for  the  many  honors  it  has  conferred  upon  me ;  still  more  for  the  steadfast 
confidence  with  which  it  has  supported  me  ;  and  for  the  opportunities  1  have 
thence  enjoyed  of  manifesting  my  inviolable  attachment,  by  services  faithful 
and  persevering,  though  in  usefulness  unequal  to  my  zeal.  If  benefits  have 
resulted  to  our  country  from  these  services,  let  it  always  be  remembered  to 
your  praise,  and  as  an  instructive  example  in  our  annals,  that,  under  circum 
stances  in  which  the  passions,  agitated  in  every  direction,  were  liable  to  mis 
lead  ;  amidst  appearances  sometimes  dubious ;  vicissitudes  of  fortune  often 
discouraging;  in  situations  in  which  not  unfrequently  want  of  success  has 
countenanced  the  spirit  of  criticism  ;  the  constancy  of  your  support  was  the 
essential  prop  of  the  efforts  and  the  guarantee  of  the  plans  by  which  they 
were  effected.  Profoundly  penetrated  with  this  idea,  I  shall  carry  it  with 
me  to  my  grave,  as  a  strong  incitement  to  unceasing  vows,  that  Heaven  may 
continue  to  you  the  choicest  tokens  of  its  beneficence  ;  that  your  union  and 
brotherly  affection  may  be  perpetual  ;  that  the  free  Constitution,  which  is  the 
work  of  your  hands,  may  be  sacredly  maintained;  that  its  administration,  in 
every  department,  may  be  stamped  with  wisdom  and  virtue;  that,  in  fine,  the 
happiness  of  the  People  of  these  States,  under  the  auspices  of  liberty,  may  be 
made  complete,  by  so  careful  a  preservation,  and  so  prudent  a  use  of  this  bles 
sing,  as  will  acquire  to  them  the  glory  of  recommending  it  to  the  ap 
plause,  the  affection,  and  the  adoption,  of  every  nation  which  is  yet  a  stran 
ger  to  it 

Here,  perhaps,  I  ought  to  stop;  but  a  solicitude  for  your  welfare,  which 
Cannot  end  but  with  my  life,  and  the  apprehension  of  danger,  natural  to  that 
solicitude,  urge  me, on  an  occasion  like  the  present,  to  offer  to  your  solemn^ 
contemplation,  and  to  recommend  to  your  frequerit  review,  some  sentiments 
which  are  the  result  of  much  reflection,  of  no  inconsiderable  observation,  and 
•which  appear  to  me  all  important  to  the  permanency  of  your  felicity  as  a  peo- 


25 

pie.  These  will  be  offered  to  you  with  the  more"  freedom,  as  you  can  only 
see  in  them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a  parting  friend,  who  can  possibly 
have  no  personal  motive  to  biai  his  council :  nor  can  I  forget,  as  an  encour 
agement  to  it,  your  indulgent  reception  of  my  sentiments  on  a  former  and  not 
dissimilar  occasion. 

Interwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every  ligament  of  your  hearts,  no 
recommendation  of  mine  is  necessary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attachment. 

The  unity  of  government,  which  constitutes  you  one  people,  is  also  now 
dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so :  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the  edifice  of  your  real 
independence  ;  the  support  of  your  tranquillity  at  home  5  your  peace  abroad  ; 
of y»ur  safety  ;  of  your  prosperity,*  of  that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly 
prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to  foresee,  that,  from  different  causes  and  from  dif 
ferent  quarters,  much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifices  employedfto  weaken, 
in  your  minds,  the  conviction  of  this  truth  ;  as'this  is  the  point  in'your  politi 
cal  fortress  against  which  the  batteries  of  internal  and  external  enemies  will 
be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  often  covertly  and  insidiously)  di 
rected,  it  is  of  infinite  moment,  that  you  should  properly  estimate  the  im 
mense  value  of  your  national  union  to  your  collective  and  individual  happi 
ness  fl  that  you  should  cherish  a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immoveable  attach 
ment  to  it;  accustoming  yourselves  to  think  and  speak  of  it,  as  of  the  palla 
dium  of  your  political  safety  and  prosperity;  watching  for  its  preservation 
with  jealous  anxiety  ;  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a  suspi 
cion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be  abandoned  ;  and  indignantly  frowning  upon 
the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any  portion  of  our  country 
from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties  which  now  link  together  the  va 
rious  parts. 

For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and  interest.  Citizens 
by  birth  or  choice,  of  a  common  country,  that  country  has  a  right  to  concen 
trate  your  affections.  The  name  of  American,  which  belongs  to  you  in  your 
national  capacity,  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriotism,  more  than 
any  appellation  derived  from  local  discriminations  With  slight  shades  of 
difference,  you  have  the  same  religion,  manner,  habits,  and  political  princi 
ples  You  have,  in  a  common  cause,  fought  and  triumphed  together:  the  in 
dependence  and  liberty  you  possess,  are  the  work  of  joint  councils,  and  joint 
efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings,  and  successes. 

But  these  considerations,  however  powerfully  they  address  themselves  to 
your  sensibility,  are  greatly  outweighed  by  those  which  apply  more  immedi 
ately  to  your  interest:  here  every  portion  of  our  country  finds  the  most  com 
manding  motives  for  carefully  guarding  and  preserving  the  union  of  the 
whole 

The  North,  in  an  unrestrained  intercourse  with  the  South,  protected  by 
the  equal  laws  of  a  common  government,  finds,  in  the  productions  of  the  lat 
ter,  great  additional  resources  of  maritime  and  commercial  enterprise,  and 
precious  materials  of  manufacturing  industry.  The  South,  in  the  same  inter 
course,  benefiting  by  the  agency  of  the  North,  sees,  its  agriculture  grow,  and 
its  commerce  expand.  Turning,  partly  int  >  its  own  channels  the  seamen  of 
the  North,  its  particular  navigation  invigorated:  and  while  it  contributes,  in 
different  ways,  to  nourish  and  increase  the  general  mass  of  the  national  na 
vigation,  it  looks  forward  to  the  protection  of  a  maritime  strength,  to  which 
itself  is  unequally  adapted.  The  East,  in  like  intercourse  with  the  West, 
already  finds,  and  in  the  progressive  improvement  of  interior  communication, 
by  land  and  watei,  will  more  and  more  find  a  valuable  vent  for  the  coinmo- 
din*1**  which  it  brings  from  abroad,  or  manufactures  at  home.  The  West  de- 
rive>  from  the  East  supplies  requisite  to  its  growth  and  comfort;  and  what  is, 
perhaps,  ot  still  greater  consequence,  it  must,  of  necessity,  owe  the  secure 


26 

enjoyment  of  indispensable  outlets  for  its  own  productions,  to  the  weight? 
influence,  and  the  tuture  maritime  strength  of  the  Atlantic  side  of  the 
Union,  directed  by  an  indissoluble  community  of  interest,  as  one  nation.  Any 
other  tenure  by  which  the  West  can  hold  this  essential  advantage,  whether^ 
derived  from  its  own  separate  strength,  or  from  an  apostate  and  unnatural 
connexion  with  any  foreign  Power,  must  be  intrinsically  precarious. 

While,  then,  every  part  of  our  country  thus  feels  an  immediate  and  parti 
cular  interest  in  union,  all  the  parties  combined  cannot  fail  to  find,  in  the 
united  mass  of  means  and  efforts,  greattr  strength,  greater  resource,  propor- 
tionably  greater  security  from  external  danger  ;  a  less  frequent  interruption 
of  their  peace  by  foreign  nations;  and,  what  is  of  inestimable  value,  they 
must  derive  from  union,  an  exemption  from  those  broils  and  wars  between 
themselves,  which  so  frequently  afflict  neighboring  countries,  not  tied  toge 
ther  by  the  same  government,  which  their  own  rivalships  alone  would  be 
sufficient  to  produce;  but  which  opposite  foreign  alliances,  attachments,  and 
intrigues,  would  stimulate  and  embitter.  Hence,  likewise,  they  will  avoid 
the  necessity  of  those  overgrown  military  establishments,  which,  under  any 
form  of  government,  are  inauspicious  to  liberty,  and  which  are  to  be  regard 
ed  as  particularly  hostile  to  republican  liberty  ;  in  this  sense  it  is,  that  your 
union  ought  to  be  considered  as  a  main  prop  of  your  liberty,  and  that  the  love 
of  the  one  ought  to  endear  to  you  the  preservation  of  the  other. 

These  considerations  speak  a  persuasive  language  to  every  reflecting  and 
virtuous  mind,  and  exhibit  the  continuance  of  the  Union  as  a  primary  object 
of  patriotic  desire.  Is  there  a  doubt,  whether  a  common  government  can  em 
brace  so  large  a  sphere?  Let  experience  solve  it.  To  listen  to  mere  specu 
lation,  in  such  a  case,  were  criminal.  We  are  authorized  to  hope,  that  a 
proper  organization  of  the  whole,  with  the  auxiliary  agency  of  governments 
for  the  respective  subdivisions,  will  afford  a  happy  issue  to  the  experiment. 
With  such  powerful  and  obvious  motives  to  union,  affecting  all  parts  of  our 
country,  while  experience  shall  not  have  demonstrated  its  impracticability,, 
there  will  always  be  reason  to  distrust  the  patriotism  of  those,  who,  in  any 
quarter,  may  endeavor  to  weaken  its  bands. 

In  contemplating  the  causes  which  may  disturb  our  union,  it  occurs,  as  a 
matter  of  serious  concern,  that  any  ground  should  have  been  furnished  for 
characterizing  parties  by  geographical  discriminations:  Northern  and  South 
ern — Atlantic  and  Western  ;  whence  designing  men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a 
belief  that  there  is  a  real  difference  of  local  interests  and  views.  One  of  the 
expedients  of  party  to  acquire  influence  within  particular  districts,  is  to  mis 
represent  the  opinions  and  aims  of  other  districts.  You  cannot  shield  your 
selves  too  much  against  the  jealousies  and  heart-burnings  which  spring  from 
these  misrepresentations:  they  tend  to  render  alien  to  each  other  those  who 
ought  to  be  bound  together  by  fraternal  affection.  The  inhabitants  of  our 
Western  country  have  lately' had  a  useful  lesson  on  this  head  ;  they  have 
seen,  in  the  negotiation  by  the  Executive,  and  in  the  unanimous  ratification 
by  the  Senate,  of  the  treaty  with  Spain,  and  by  the  universal  satisfaction  at 
the  event,  throughout  the  United  States,  a  decisive  proof  how  unfounded  were 
the  suspicions  propagated  among  them,  of  a  policy  in  the  General  Govern 
ment,  and  in  the  Atlantic  States,  unfriendly  to  their  interests  in  regard  to 
the  Mississippi:  they  have  been  witnesses  to  the  formation  of  two  treaties — 
that  with  Great  Britain  and  that  with  Spain— which  secure  to  them  every 
thing  they  could  desire,  in  respect  to  our  foreign  relations,  towards  confirm 
ing  their  prosperity.  Will  it  not  be  their  wisdom  to  rely  for  the  preservation 
of  these  advantages  on  the  Union  by  which  they  were  procured?  Will  they 
not  henceforth  be  deaf  to  those  advisers,  if  such  there  are,  who  would  sever 
from  their  brethern  and  connect  them  with  aliens? 


27 

To  the  efficacy  and  permanency  of  your  union,  a  Government  for  the  whole  J 
is  indispensable.  No  alliance,  however  strict,  between  the  parts,  can  be  an  » 
adequate  substitute  ;  they  must  inevitably  experience  the  infractions  and  in 
terruptions  which  all  alliances  in  all  times  have  experienced.  Sensible  of  this 
momentous  truth,  you  have  improved  upon  your  first  essay,  by  the  adoption, 
of  a  constitution  of  Government,  better  calculated  than  your  former,  for  an 
intimate  union  and  for  the  efficacious  management  of  your  common  concerns. 
This  Government,  the  offspring  of  our  own  choice,  uninfluenced  and  unawed, 
adopted  upon  full  investigation  and  mature  deliberation,  completely  free  in 
its  principles,  in  the  distribution  of  its  powers,  uniting  security  with  energy 
and  containing  within  itself  a  provision-  for  its  own  amendment,  has  a  just 
claim  to  your  confidence  and  your  support.  Respect  for  its  authority,  com-  <+ 
pliarice  with  its  laws,  acquiescence  in  its  measures,  are  duties  enjoined  by 
the  fundamental  maxims  of  true  liberty.  The  basis  of  our  political  systems 
is  the  right  of  the  People  to  make  and  to  alter  their  constitutions  of  govern 
ment:  but,  the  constitution,  which  at  any  time  exists,  till  changed  by  an  expli 
cit,  an  authentic  act  of  the  whole  People,  is  sacredly  obligatory  upon  all.  The 
very  idea  of  the  power  and  the  right  of  the  People  to  establish  Government, 
presupposes  the  duty  of  every  individual  to  obey  the  established  govern 
ment. 

All  obstructions  to  the  execution  of  the  laws;  all  combinations  and  associa-*' '"* 
tions,  under  whatever  plausible  character,  with  the  real  design  to  direct, 
control,  counteract,  or  awe,  the  regular  deliberation  and  action  of  the  consti 
tuted  authorities,  are  destructive  of  this  fundamental  principle,  and  of  fatal 
tendency.  {They  serve  to  organize  faction  ;  to  give  it  an  artificial  and  extra 
ordinary  jforcej  to  put  in  the  pla.ce-.of~ the  delegated  will  of  the  Nation,  the 
,  will  of  a  party,  often  a  small  but  artful  and  enterprising  minority  of  the  com 
munity;  and  accwdtnglpjhe  alternate  triumphs  of  different'  parties,  to  make 
the  public  administration  the-mirroV  of  the  ill  concerted  and  incongruous 
projects  of  faction,  rather  than  the  organ  of  consistent  and  wholesome  plans, 
digested  by  common  counsels,  and  modified  by  mutual  interests. 

However  combinations  or  associations  of  the   above  description  may  now  . 
and  then  answer  popular  ends,  they   are    likely,  in  the  course  of  time  and'1 
things,  to  become  potent  engines,  by  which  cunning,  ambitious,   and  unprin 
cipled  men  will  be  enabled  to  subvert  the  power  of  the  People,  and  to  usurp, 
for  themselves,  the  reins  of  government;  destroying,  afterwards,  the  very  en 
gines  which  have  lifted  them  to  unjust  dominion. 

Towards  the  preservation  of  your  Government,  and  the  permanency  of 
your  present  happy  state,  it  is  requisite,  not  only  that  you  speedily  dis 
countenance  irregular  oppositions  to  its  acknowledged  authority,  but  also 
that  you  resist  with  care  the  spirit  of  innovation  upon  its  principles,  however 
specious  the  pretexts.  One  method  of  assault  may  be  to  effect,  in  the  forms 
of  the  constitution,  alterations  which  will  impair  the  energy  of  the  system, 
and  thus  to  undermine  what  cannot  be  directly  overthrown.  In  all  the  chan 
ges  to  which  you  may  be  invted,  remember  that  time  and  habit  are  at  least 
as  necessary  to  fix  the  true  character  of  Governments,  as  of  other  human  insti 
tutions;  that  experience  is  the  surest  standard  by  which  to  test  the  real  ten 
dency  of  the  existing  constitution  of  a  country;  that  facility  in  changes,  upon 
the  credit  of  mere  hypothesis  and  opinion,  exposes  to  perpetual  change,  from 
the  endless  variety  of  hypothesis  and  opinion;  and  remember,  especially,  that, 
for  the  efficient  management  ot  your  common  interests,  in  a  country  so  ex 
tensive  as  ours,  a  Government  of  as  much  vigor  as  is  consistent  with  the  per 
fect  security  of  liberty,  is  indi*pensible.  LdJiprfy  itgplf  iv'H  fim[»  in  gnrtl  a 
Goveamej}kjBdth.jwwe^^ 
dian.  It  is,  indeedVKttle  else  than  a  name,  where  the  Government  is  too, 


28 

ieeble  to  withstand  the  enterprises  of  faction,  to  confine  each  member  of  the- 
society  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to  maintain  all  in  the 
secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of  the  rights  of  person  and  property. 

I  have  already  intimated  to  you,  the  danger  of  parties  in  the  State,  with 
particular  reference  to  the  founding  of  them  on  geographical  discriminations* 
Let  me  now  take  a  more  comprehensive  view,  and  warn  you,  in  the  most  so 
lemn  manner,  against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of  party  generally. 

This  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  nature,  having  its  root 
in  the  strongest  passions  ot  the  human  mind.  It  exists  under  different  shapes 
in  all  governments,  more  or  less  stifled,  controled,  or  repressed;  but  in  those 
of  ihe  popular  form,  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest  rankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst 
enemy. 

The  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another,  sharpened  by  the 
spirit  of  revenge,  natural  to  party  dissension,  which,  in  different  ages  and 
countries,  lias  perpetrated  the  most  horrid  enormities,  is  itself  a  frightful  des 
potism.  But  this  leads  at  length,  to  a  more  formal  and  permanent  despotism. 
The  disorders  and  miseries  which  result  gradually  incline  the  minds  of  men 
to  seek  security  and  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  individual;  and,  sooner 
or  later,  the  chief  of  some  prevailing  faction,  more  able  or  more  fortunate 
than  his  competitors,  turns  this  disposition  to  the  purposes  of  his  own  eleva 
tion,  on  the  ruins  of  public  liberty. 

Without  looking  forward  to  an  extremity  of  this  kind,  (which  nevertheless 
ought  not  to  be  entirely  out  of  sight)  the  common  and  continual  mischiefs  of 
the  spirit  of  party  are  sufficient  to  make  it  the  interest  arid  dul^  of  a  wise 
people  to  discourage  and  restrain  it 

It  serves  always  to  distract  the  public  councils  and  mfeeble  the  public  ad 
ministration.  It  agitates  the  community  with  ill-founded  jealousies  and  false 
alarms;  kindles  the  animosity  of  one  part  against  another;  foments,  Occasion 
ally,  riot  and  insurrection.  It  opens  the* door  .to  foreign  influence  and  cor 
ruption,  which  find  a  facilitated  access  to  the  Government  itself,  through  the 
channels  of  party  passions.  Thus  the  policy  and  the  will  of  one  country  are 
subjected  to  the  policy  and  will  of  another. 

"'  There  is  an  opinion,  that  parties,  in  free  countries,  are  useful  checks  upon 
the  administration  of  the  government,  and  serve  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  li 
berty.  This,  within  certain  limits,  is  probably  true;  and,  in  governments  of 
a  monarchical  cast,  patriotism  may  look  with  indulgence,  if  not  with  favor, 
upon  the  spirit  of  party  But  in  those  of  the  popular  character,  in  govern 
ments  purely  elective,  it  is  a  spirit  not  to  be  encouraged.  From  their  natural 
tendency,  it  is  certain  there  will  always  be  enough  of  that  spirit  for  every  salu 
tary  purpose.  And  there  being  constant  danger  of  excess,  the  effort  ought  to 
be,  by  force  of  public  opinion,  to  mitigate  and  assuage  it.  A  fire  not  to  be 
quenched,  it  demands  a  uniform  vigilance  to  prevent  its  bursting  into  aflame, 
lest,  instead  of  warming,  it  should  consume. 

It  is  important,  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking,  in  a  free  country, 
should  inspire  caution  in  those  entrusted  with  its  administration,  to  confine 
themselves  within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres,  avoiding,  in  the  ex 
ercise  of  the  powers  of  one  department,  to  encroach  upon  another.  The  spirit 
of  encroachment  tends  to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  in  one, 
and  tiius  to  create,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a  real  despotism.  A 
just  estimate  of  that  love  of  power,  and  proneuess  to  abuse  it,  which  predomi 
nates  in  the  human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  truth  of  this  position. 
The  necessity  of  reciprocal  checks  in  the  exercise  of  political  power,  by  divi 
ding  and  distributing  it  into  different  depositories,  and  constituting  each  the 
guardian  of  the  public  weal,  against  invasions  by  the  others,  has  been  evinced 
by  experiments  ancient  ami  modern:  some  of  them  in  our  own  country,  anri 


«n "     ' 


under  our  own  eyes.  To  preserve  them  must  be  as  necessary  as  to  inMitute. 
th:am.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  the  distribution  or  modification  of  the 
constitutional  powers,  be,  in  any  particular,  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  i  y  an 
amendment  in  the  way  which  the  Constitution  designates.  But  let  there  be 
no  change  by  usurpation:  for  though  this,  in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instru 
ment  of  good  it  is  the  customary  weapon  by  which  free  governments  are  des 
troyed.  The  precedent  must  always  greatly  overbalance,  in  permanent  evil, 
any  partial  or  transient  benefit  which  the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity,  religion 
and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man  claim  the 
tribute  of  patriotism,  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pillars  of  human 
happiness — these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens.  The  mere 
politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  to  cherish  them. 
A  volume  could  not  trace  all  their  connexions  with  private  and  public  felicity. 
Lei  it  simply  be  asked,  where  is  the  security  for  property,  for  reputation,  for 
life,  if  the  se"nse  of  religious  obligation  desert  the  oaths,  which  are  the  instru 
ments  of  investigation  in  courts  of  justice?  And  let  us  with  caution  indulge 
the  supposition,  that  morality  can  be  maintained  without  religion.  Whatever 
may  be  conceded  to  the  influence  of  refined  education  on  minds  of  peculiar 
Structure,  reason  and  experience  both  forbid  us  to  expect  that  national  mor 
ality  can  prevail  in  exclusion  of  religious  principle. 

'Tis  substantially  true,  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary  spring  of  pop 
ular  government.  The  rule  indeed  extends  with  more  or  less  force  to  e\vry 
species  of  free  government  Who,  that  is  a  sincere  friend  to  it,  can  look  with 
indifference  upon  attempts  to  shake  the  foundation  of  the  fabric? 

Promote,  then,  as  an  object  of  primary  importance,  institutions  for  the  gen 
eral  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government- 
gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  public  opinion  should  be  en 
lightened.  ~£p# 

As  a  very  important  source  of  strength  and  security,  cherish  public  credit. 
One  method  of  preserving  it  is  to  use  it  as  sparingly  as  possible,  avoiding  oc 
casions  of  expense,  by  cultivating  peace:  but  remembering  also  that  timely 
disbursements  to  prepare  for  danger,  frequently  prevent  much  greater  dis 
bursements  to  repel  it;  avoiding,  likewise,  the  accumulation  of  debt,  not  only 
t>y  shunning  occasions  of  expense,  but  by  vigorous  exertions,  in  time  of  peace, 
to  discharge  the  debts  which  unavoidable  wars  may  have  occasioned;  not  un 
generously  throwing  upon  posterity  the  burthen  which  we  ourselves  ought  to 
bear.  The  execution  of  these  maxims  belongs  to  your  representatives,  but  it 
is  necessary  that  public  opinion  should  co-operate.  To  facilitate  to  them  the 
performance  of  their  duty,  it  is  essential  that  you  should  practically  bear  in 
mind,  that,  towards  the  payment  of  debts,  there  must  be  revenue;  that  to  have 
revenue  there  must  be  taxes;  that  no  taxes  can  be  devised  which  are  not  more 
or  less  inconvenient  and  unpleasant;  that  the  intrinsic  embarrassment,  in«ep- 
arable  from  the  selection  of  the  proper  objects,  (which  is  always  a  choice  of 
difficulties)  ought  to  be  a  decisive  motive  for  a  candid  construction  of  the 
conduct  of  the  Government  in  making  it,  and  for  a  spirit  of  acquiescence  in 
the  measures  for  obtaining  revenue,  which  the  public  exigencies  may  at  any 
time  dictate. 

Observe  good  faith  and  justice  towards  all  nations:  cultivate  peace  and 
harmony  with  all.  Religion  and  morality  enjoin  this  conduct — and  can  it  be 
that  good  policy  does  not  equally  enjoin  it?  It  will  be  worthy  of  a  free,  and, 
at  no  distant  period,  a  great  nation,  to  give  to  mankind  the  magnanimous  and 
too  novel  example  of  a  people  always  guided  by  an  exalted  justice  and  benev- 
olew  e.  Who  can  doubt  that,  in  the  course  ot  time  and  things,  the  fruits  of 
rjor,  — ,-M  ...-MI-  -rtr*a.T  «»"  *«mr>orarv  advantages  which  might  be  lost 


30 

by  a  steady  adherence  to  it?  Can  it  be,  that  Providence  has  not  connected 
the  permanent  felicity  of  a  nation  with  its  virtues?  The  experiment,  at  least, 
is  recommended  by  every  sentiment  which  enobles  human  nature. — Alas!  is 
it  rendered  impossible  by  its  vices? 

In  the  execution  of  such  a  plan,  nothing  is  more  essential  than  that  perma 
nent  inveterate  antipathies  against  particular  nations,  and  passionate  attach 
ments  for  others,  should  be  excluded;  and  that,  in  place  of  them,  just  and 
amicable  feelings  towards  all  should  be  cultivated.  The  nation  which  in 
dulges  towards  another  an  habitual  hatred,  or  an  habitual  fondness,  is,  in 
some  degree,  a  slave. — It  is  a  slave  to  its  animosity  or  to  its  affection,  either 
of  which  is  sufficient  to  lead  it  astray  from  its  duty  and  its  interest.  Antipa 
thy  in  one  nation  against  another,  disposes  each  more  readily  to  offer  insult 
and  injury,  to  lay  hold  of  slight  causes  of  umbrage,  and  to  be  haughty  and 
intractable,  when  accidental  or  trifling  occasions  of  dispute  occur.  Hence, 
frequent  col'isions;  obstinate,  envenomed,  and  bloody  contests.  The  nation, 
prompted  by  ill-will  and  resentment,  sometimes  impels  to  war  the  govern 
ment,  contrary  K»  the  best  calculations  of  policy.  The  government  sometimes 
panicipates  in  the  national  propensity,  and  adopts,  through  passion,  what  rea 
son  would  reject;  at  other  times,  it  makes  the  animosity  of  the  nation  subser 
vient  to  projects  of  hostility,  instigated  by  pride  and  ambition,  and  other 
sinister  and  pernicious  motives.  The  peace  often,  sometimes,  perhaps,  the 
liberty  of  nations,  has  been  the  victim. 

So,  likewise,  a  passionate  attachment  of  one  nation  to  another  produces  a 
variety  of  evils.  Sympathy  for  the  favorite  nation,  facilitating  the  illusion  of 
an  imaginary  common  interest,  in  cases  where  no  real  common  interest  exists, 
and  infusing  into  one  the  enmities  of  the  other,  betrays  the  former  into  a  par 
ticipation  in  the  quarrels  and  wars  of  the  latter,  without  adequate  inducement 
or  justification.  It  leads  also  to  concessions  to  the  favorite  nation  of  privileg 
es,  denied  to  others,  which  is  apt  doubly  to  injure  the  nation  making  conces 
sions;  by  unnecessarily  parting  with  what  ought  to  have  been  retained,  and  by 
exciting  jealousy,  ill-will,  and  .a  disposition  to  retaliate,  in  the  parties  from 
whom  equal  privileges  are  withheld:  and  it  gives  to  ambitious,  corrupted,  or 
deluded  citizens  (who  devote  themselves  to  the  favorite  nation)  facility  to 
betray  or  sacrifice  the  interests  of  their  own  country,  without  odium,  some 
times  even  with  popularity;  gilding  with  the  appearances  of  a  virtuous  sense 
of  obligation,  a  commendable  deference  for  public  opinion,  or  a  laudable  zeal 
for  public  good,  the  base  or  foolish  compliances  of  ambition,  corruption,  or 
infatuation. 

A>  avenues  to  foreign  influence  in  innumerable  ways,  such  attachments  are 
particularly  alarming  to  the  truly  enlightened  and  independent  patriot.  How 
maiiv  opportunities  do  they  afford  to  tamper  with  domestic  factions,  to  practice 
the  arts  of  seduction,'  to  mislead  public  opinion,  to  influence  or  awe  the  public 
councils  !  Such  an  attachment  of  a  small  or  weak,  towards  a  great  and  pow- 
eilul  nation,  dooms  the  former  to  be  the  satelite  of  the  latter. 

Against  the  insidious  wiles  of  foreign  influence  (I  conjure  you  to  believe 
me,  fellow-citizens)  the  jealousy  of  a  free  people  ought  to  be  constantly  awake; 
since  history  and  experience  prove  that  foreign  influence  is  one  ot  the  most 
baneful  foes  of  a  republican  government.  But  that  jealousy,  to  be  useful, 
must  be  impartial;  else  it  becomes  the  instrument  of  the  very  influence  to  be 
avoided,  instead  ot  a  defence  against  it.  Excessive  partiality  for  one  foreign 
nation,  and  excessive  dislike  of  another,  cause  those  whom  they  actuate  to 
see  danger  only  on  one  side,  and  serve  to  veil  and  even  second  the  arts  of  in 
fluence  on  the  other.  Real  pattiots,  who  may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the  fa 
vorite,  are  liable  to  become  suspected  and  oiiious;  while  its  tools  and  dupes 
usurp  the  applause  and  confidence  of  the  people,  to  surrender  their  interests.- 


31 

The  great  rule  of  conduct  for  us,  in  regard  to  foreign  nations,  is,  in  extend-  j^ 
ing  our  commercial  relations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  political  connexion  <<7 
as  possible.  So  far  as  we  have  already  formed  engagements,  let  them  be  ful-  '  • 
filled  with  perfect  good  faith.  Here  let  us  stop. 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us  have  none,  or  a  very  re 
mote  relation.  Hence  she  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the 
causes  of  which  are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  therefore, 
it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves,  by  artificial  ties,  in  the  ordina 
ry  vicissitudes  of  her  politics,  or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions  of 
her  friendships  or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites,  and  enables  us,  to  pursue  a  dif 
ferent  course.  If  we  remain  one  people,  under  an  efficient  government,  the 
period  is  not  far  oft  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from  external  annoy 
ance,  when  we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will  cause  the  neutrality  we  may 
at  any  time  resolve  upon,  to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when  belligerent  na 
tions,*  under  the  impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us,  will  riot  lightly 
hazard  the  giving  us  provocation;  when  we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our 
interest,  guided  by  justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation?  Why  quit  our  own, 
to  stand  upon  foreign  ground?  Why,  by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that 
of  any  part  of  Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils  of  Euro 
pean  ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or  caprice? 

'Tis  our  true  policy  to  steer  clear  of  permanent  alliances  with  any  portion  of 
the  foreign  world — so  far,  I  mean,  as  we  are  now  at  liberty  to  do  it:  for  let 
me  not  be  understood  as  capable  of  patronizing  infidelity  to  existing  engage 
ments.  I  hold  the  rnaxim  no  less  applicable  to  publ;c  than  to  private  affairs, 
that  honesty  is  always  the  best  policy.  I  repeat  it,  therefore,  let  those  engage 
ments  be  observed  in  their  genuine  sense.  But,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  unne 
cessary,  and  would  be  unwi>e,  to  extend  them. 

Taking  care  always  to  keep  ourselves,  by  suitable  establishments,  on  a  re 
spectable  defensive  posture,  we  may  safely  trust  to  temporary  alliances  for 
extraordinary  emergencies. 

Harmony,  and  a  liberal  intercourse  with  all  nations,  are  recommended 
by  policy,  humanity,  and  interest  But  even  our  commercial  policy  should 
hold  an  equal  and  impartial  hand,  neither  seeking  nor  granting  exclusive  fa 
vors  or  preferences;  consulting  the  natural  course  of  things:  diffusing  and 
diversifying,  by  gentle  means,  the  streams  of  commerce,  but  forcing  nothing; 
establishing  with  Powers  so  disposed,  in  order  to  give  trade  a  stable  course, 
to  define  the  rights  of  our  merchants,  and  to  enable  the  Government  to  sup 
port  them,  conventional  rules  of  intercourse,  the  best  that  present  circum 
stances  and  mutual  opinion  will  permit,  but  temporary,  and  liable  to  be,  from, 
time  to  time,  abandoned  or  varied,  as  experience  and  circumstance  shall  dic 
tate  ;  constantly  keeping  in  view,  that  'tis  folly  in  one  nation  to  look  for  dis 
interested  favors  from  another ;  that  it  must  pay  with  a  portion  of  its  indepen 
dence  for  whatever  it  may  accept  under  that  character ;  that  by  such  accep 
tance  it  may  place  itself  m  the  condition  of  having  given  equivalents  for  nom 
inal  favors,  and  yet  of  being  reproached  with  ingratitude  for  not  giving  more. 
There  can  be  no  greater  error  than  to  expect  or  calculate  upon  real  favors 
from  nation  to  nation.  'Tis  all  illusion,  which  experience  must  cure— 
which  a  just  pride  ought  to  discard. 

In  offering  to  you,  my  countrymen,  these  counsels  of  an  old  and  affection 
ate  friend,  1  dare  not  hope  they  will  make  the  strong  and  lasting  impression 
I  could  wish,  that  they  will  control  the  usual  current  of  the  passions,  or  pre 
vent  our  nation  from  running  the  course  which  has  hitherto  marked  the  desti- 
nv  of  nation«?  hut  if  I  mav  *»vpn  flaHpr  mvcolf  that  thev  may  be  productive 


32 

of  some  partial  benefit,  some  eccaaional  good  ;  that  they  may  nowtsd  tfeen 
recur  to  moderate  the  fury  of  party  spirit,  to  warn  agaiuM  ih«'  mischiefs  ot 
of  foreign  intrigues,  to  guard  against  the  impostures  of  pretended  patriotism; 
this  hope  will  be  a  full  recompense  for  the  solicitude  for  your  welfare  by  which 
they  have  been  dictated. 

How  far,  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have  been  guided  by  the 
principles,  which  have  been  delineated,  the  public  records  and  other  evidences 
of  my  conduct  must  witness  to  you  and  to  the  world.  To  myself,  the  assu 
rance  of  my  own  conscience  is,  that  I  have  at  least  believed  myself  to  be 
guided  by  them. 

In  relation  to  the  still  subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my  proclamation  of  the 
22d  of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  to  my  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  approving 
voice,  and  by  that  of  your  Representatives  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  the 
spirit  of  that  measure  has  continually  governed  me,  uninfluenced  by  any  at 
tempts  to  deter  or  divert  me  from  it. 

After  deliberate  examination,  with  the  aid  of  the  best  lights  I  could  obtainr 
I  was  well  satisfied  that  our  country,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
had  a  right  to  take,  and  was  bound  in  duty  and  interest  to  take,  a  neutral  po 
sition.  Having  taken  it,  I  determined,  as  far  as  should  depend  upon  me,  to 
maintain  it  with  moderation,  perseverance  and  firmness. 

The  considerations  which  respect  the  right  to  hold  this  conduct,  it  is  not 
necessary  on  this  occasion  to  detail.  I  will  only  observe,  that,  according  to 
my  understanding  of  the  matter,  that  right,  so  far  from  being  denied,  by  any 
of  the  belligerent  Powers,  has  been  virtually  admitted  by  all. 

The  duty  of  holding  a  neutral  conduct  may  be  inferred,  without  any  thing* 
more,  from  the  obligation  which  justice  and  humanity  impose  on  every  nation, 
in  cases  in  which  it  is  free  to  act,  to  maintain  inviolate  the  relations  of  peace 
and  amity  towards  other  nations. 

The  inducements  of  interest,  for  observing  that  conduct,  will  best  be  re 
ferred  to  your  own  reflections  and  experience.  With  me,  a  predominant  mo 
tive  has  been  to  endeavor  to  gain  time  to  our  country  to  settle  and  mature  its 
yet  recent  institutions  ;  and  to  progress,  without  interruption,  to  that  degree 
of  strength  and  consistency,  which  is  necessary  to  give  it,  humanly  speaking^ 
the  command  of  its  own  fortunes. 

Though,  in  reviewing  the  incidents  of  my  administration,  I  am  unconsci 
ous  of  intentional  error,  I  think  it  probable  that  I  have  committed  many  er- 
K>rs.  Whatever  they  may  be,  I  fervently  beseech  the  Almighty  to  avert  or 
mitigate  the  evils  to  which  they  may  tend.  I  shall  also  carry  with  me  the 
hope  that  my  country  will  never  cease  to  view  them  with  indulgence  ;  and 
that,  after  forty-five  years  of  my  life  dedicated  to  its  service,  with  an  up 
right  zeal,  the  faults  of  incompetent  abilities  will  be  consigned  to  oblivion, 
as  myself  must  soon  be  to  the  mansions  of  rest. 

Relying  on  its  kindness,  in  this  as  in  other  things,  and  actuated  by  that  fer 
vent  love  towards  it  which  is  so  natural  to  a  man  who  views  it  in  the  native 
soil  of  himself  and  his  progenitors  for  several  generations,  1  anticipate  with 
pleasing  expectations,  that  retreat,  in  which  1  promise  myself  to  realize, 
without  alloy,  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  partaking,  in  the  midst  of  my  fellow- 
eitizens,  the  benign  influence  of  good  laws,  under  a  free  government —  lie 
•ver  favorite  object  of  my  heart  $  and  the  happy  rewarvi,  as  1  trust,  of  our 
mutual  cares,  labors,  and  dangers. 

GEO.  WASHINGTON. 

1     United  States,  \7tk  Sept.  1796. 


RETURN  TO  the  circulation  desk  of  any 
University  of  California  Library 
or  to  the 

NORTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 
Bldg.  400,  Richmond  Field  Station 
University  of  California 
Richmond,  CA  94804-4698 

ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 
2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 

(415)642-6233 
1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  NRLF 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days 

prior  to  due  date 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


C7 


198S 


YC  28047 


